The Gift From Another World
by EleganBlack
Summary: In a world different from ours,two girls live.One lacks emotions,the other,shielded by a mask.They're the saviors,the ones to stop evil once and for all.However,this will be a harsh path on which they'll be apart.Our two saviors,a gift from another world.
1. Chapter 1

_**The Gift From Another World**_

_**The Wish Of One Thousand Tears**_

_Hello again, everybody. Long time no see ! ^^ (At least for those of you who've been reading this story in its old version.) I promised you I'd soon have the refined version of 'Gift' out ! So here it is, a day before what would normally be Dimitra Wispendar's birthday. Unfortunately, the dA link to the manga version I had promised won't be out for a while... Semester tests at school, and since I'm no money-haver a.k.a. rule-screwer like Seto Kaiba from YGOTAS (xD), I couldn't put off studying so simply. Please do forgive me ! I'll try to have them out as soon as possible !_

_"...My name is Dimitra Wispendar... or at least this is what I used to be called... What you'll read is my life... can't say it's an interesting one..."_

Brown strands of hair slipped from behind my ear, hiding my light brown eyes... This is what my life was always like... Hiding... always hiding...

_"For twelve years, I've been living in a world... of malice and despair, where there is no such thing as a 'good thing'... Innocence has dried away, even from the little children... Imagination died with it... Love has given its place to callousness... kindness has abandoned this world..."_

The traffic lights turned green for another day again. My weak legs struggled to get me to the other side of the road. Everything is difficult but through the years, I got used to it... I got used to my weakness, I got used to the sorrow, I got used to the pain...

People passed the road next to me and someone brushed his shoulder on me and I fell down. Usual things, to be honest. When you've been born sick and frail, losing your balance easily and passing out is something you must live with... But what had always felt like a sting, there, in my chest, was that there was no one to pull you up. No one to tell you 'excuse me' or smile to you in a friendly way. No one... no friendship, no love, no nothing.

_"Long ago... I wanted to know what a flower is like... I first heard that word by a person dear to me... Then I found it in books, images of it... Glorious beings that are supposed to smell beautifully... but through an old book, you can only smell paper and the most important thing about flowers, is missing... Colors... I'd heard they're wonderful, covered in this peculiar thing called a 'color'... Only recently, I saw many of them... They were truly breathtaking... Miraculous in those colors, colors like bright yellow or vivid red... The only vivid and bright red thing I'd seen in my whole life was the traffic light when it commands you to 'stop'. Everyday, someone always told me that, to stop, stop to live..."_

I managed to get up, not caring about anything at all. The stopped cars roared with their loud corns at how slow I was, again this day, one of the days of my twelve years on this cold, cruel earth.

_"I spent most years of my insignificant life trying to do this... stop living... But I can't die, not until I get there... and I know, I __**know**__, that after I finish writing this, this time for me will finally come..."_

Another day at school, the same cold and expressionless faces, the same empty eyes, the same cruel and busy people. No smile to welcome you, no one to greet you with a hug. _She keeps saying that all those people should end up hanged up from the ceiling, but I don't get it. No one has ever cared about me... no one has whipped away the tears... no one has anything to do with me... so why should I bother with them...? I have these thoughts for her lately too..._

_"She... she was... and still is, the most important person in my life... If it hadn't been her, I wouldn't be who I am right now... even though what I am now is still nothing. All my life, I hadn't done anything worth to be said... She, on the other hand, led what you could at least call a life... The one who stood up from the rest was her... "_

P.E. once again. Volleyball again. How new did that sound ! Every day we did the same thing ! Doesn't it seem great ? I... was fed up with it. Again, I went to sit on the bleachers, to watch my classmates play. I never did anything during P.E., because of my sickness, my frailty. They didn't allow me to. Not that anybody would care, they just wouldn't like to bother with me in the morning.

_"If I were to find myself in that gym classroom, I'd start looking at the seats. See that girl there ? The one in the oversized black cardigan and red loose slackers ? The pale and skinny one sitting with her chin on her palms that looks as if she'll pass out any time ? Yes, the loser with the brown eyes and brown hair ? That's me. That's how I'd find me there... But if I were to find her, I'd turn to look at that girl with those vicious hazel eyes, that look that says it all for her - I will kill ya so don't piss me off. See her there ? The one in torn bluejeans, khaki shoes and a black torn t-shirt with the red anarchy symbol ? The one with long brown hair, falling in curls, whose eyes have rays of green inside ? That was her. Nicole Westmore... my best friend... my dearest friend... and at the time, my only friend."_

I looked at her blankly. _I've been thinking lately... Why are we friends ? We're so unlike... but I know the answer already. She's the only one who has ever accepted me._

"Westmore, you weirdo ! You think you can beat us when it's only you, yourself and thin air ? Get serious, freak !" I turned to see a girl of Nicole's age wanting to... get her butt kicked. I noticed her empty eyes, the pupiless eyes of this empty vessel without a soul. How could she call someone a freak...? My question would never mean anything though ; _they _are the whole world. _We,_ are only two girls... I looked at Nicole...

"Grrr... Take THAT !" shouted Nicole. She threw the volleyball on the girl's face so strongly, I could clearly see the red rivulet of blood pouring from her nose. "That was for calling me a freak ! Come, Dimitra !"

"But P.E. class isn't over..." I uttered while standing up but Nicole shot me a glare and I followed her.

I knew that at that moment, outside the school gates, our ways would part as always. She would go cause trouble, while I... while I would have to go back _there _and wait for her...

_"The two of us grew up in an orphanage... from an age and after, actually... __it was Hell on Earth... but we had nowhere else to go..."_

I stood and waited for the bus to come and take me. I looked up at the grey, cloudy sky. Rain was pouring down like it always did... I had to close my eyes a little to avoid the falling raindrops... those tears of a mourning sky... With a reflection of nothing in my eyes, I tried to find the sun... Rain... only rain... Sun... why have you forsaken us...? Why aren't you real...? Why do you live only in those abandoned fairytales...? If you came now, perhaps you would be too late, but maybe you were never there...

A sound of metal clatters and the roar of an engine let me know that the bus had come to take me home... Home ? I couldn't believe that I had just called that cold orphanage that locked me up between its four miserable walls, my home...

I went and sat on the wide seat at the end. I brought my knees to my chest and curled up next to the filthy window, humming myself to sleep but I couldn't. I observed that familiar place. No one was there, only me and the sullen bus driver that never looked at me in the eyes... No one ever did...

_"Then, no one had ever looked at me in the eyes... Or rather, barely anyone even looked at me... only Nicole... But she too never dared to look at my eyes... What was she afraid of ? Whenever I looked in our broken mirror to see my eyes, try as I may, I saw nothing, nothing frightening. The same eyes full of nothingness as everyone else's. Or maybe, this nothingness was what scared her...?"_

I slowly got off the bus and looked up. Before me stood a big, old building, its stone walls smudged with dirt and eaten by moisture... The words _McCaulley Orphanage _were carved deep on the dirty marble arch atop the foreboding oak door.

_"That world... I call it 'Grey World'... my Grey World... or else, my place of torture... People tortured my soul relentlessly every day, even though they knew it was more fragile than glass..."_

When I stepped into the orphanage, I looked at the green carpet beneath me... The schoolbag I dragged along with me, my feet, my clothes, my hair... they all dripped of waterdrops that soaked the carpet and created puddles on the grey marble floor... I turned to look to my right, my gaze drifting on the portrait of the current owner's mother, strict and unwelcoming like her successor, and then to my left, beyond a wooden arch. There, in the big room, full of long tables, the younger children of the orphanage were doing additional homework. Sindy Caddison, the young assistant, whose eyes I liked because they were so black, you took no notice they were empty, was going from table to table to give the pupils new work to do... _to keep them useful... to create the new heartless denizens of this world... exactly like Mrs. Mariah wants them to be._

Without wanting to, I heard the conversation of a girl and boy that shook that useless thing all humans keep in their chests, called heart.

"Mom died 'cause someone kill her."

"'Tupid Mike ! Yo' mom was 'tupid, that why died !"

I stood there still, gazing at them aimlessly... when the girl suddenly lifted her glare and so did the little boy.

"Mrs. Mariah ! F'eaky ga'l is staring at us...!"

"You !" shouted Mrs. Mariah McCaulley, the director of this place, a middle-aged woman with black hair tied to a strict bun and her round body stuffed in a Victorian dark green dress. She stomped in front of me and glared. "Go away before you spoil them and make them like you !"

She needn't tell me twice. Anyway, I wouldn't like to stick around and watch as she tuned those children, so as for them to be the robots of the new generation. I started going up the long staircase, clutching loosely on my bag... Climbing up was so difficult... I could barely move my legs. By the time I had reached the long empty hallway of the upper floor, full of shut wooden doors, I was breathless. I stopped in front of a certain door, the washed-off numbers '64' and the signs of the existence of nails being the only thing on it. As I was about to open it, I heard Mrs. Mariah's voice complain, "That freak ! She and her friend ! I can't stop wondering why I keep them here !"

"Why don't you throw them out then ?" asked Sindy with her sweet, toneless voice.

"I can't, it's my job to look after those wretched children, no matter how repulsive they are."

I let a fake little smile play on my lips and opened up.

As soon as I got in and closed the door, I let my light-blue schoolbag slip from my fingers. A face made of light pink was the only thing it had. I made it myself. I knew hot to sew for a long time. It was like complaining for not opening it to study but who cares ? As if anyone would mind if I went to school without knowing anything.

I stood still, wondering what I should do. Without paying any more thought to it, I put on my short white nightdress mechanically and wrapped my oversized black cardigan around me tightly. There was fur inside it, worn and dirty. However, it could do nothing against the cold, that chilling shiver running through my body and freezing me... I sat on my plain bed next to the open window, my knees to my chest and my arms wrapped around them, gazing outside at the sky... The clouds began getting darker... Night fell every second that passed by... Along with it, my stomach growled and my head ached even more...

The outside world was no less different than the one inside... The same darkness, the same shadows, the same cold... Even the same broken and dilapidated objects... I watched a group of people carrying briefcases head somewhere I didn't know. And probably they didn't either. They were just aware that it was the place they should be going and simply obeyed. It was a fact... a sad fact that used to make me wonder... _until I was six... that was when it all became clear... that I simply had to do as this place commanded me... and not live at all._

"Hey, I'm back !" I heard Nicole's voice from behind and the loud slam of the door. She never just_ closed _the door - she _smacked _it first. "You won't believe what the old hag was mumbling about down there. Something about two spoiled brats making her life Hell or something ! I wonder who she means !" After putting on her own pejamas, a black t-shirt and khaki slackers but never getting off her fingerless ochre gloves and khaki manly beret, she came and stood beside my bed.

"Tell me... you didn't eat anything again today ?"

"..."

Seeing I was saying nothing, she left out a sigh of what she called 'exasperation' and sat next to me cross-legged. "You know you can't keep doing this forever. Not sleeping and not eating anything at all will get you to nothing."

_But that's exactly what I want..._

We stood in total silence. Nicole just moved to put her elbows on the window frame and stare outside.

"Boring... Every day is the same as the previous." she muttered behind clinched teeth. "And you're not saying a thing." Like she said, I did nothing else but stare blankly at the window parapet. She gave me a strong pat on my back that made everything fade in and out for an instant. "I know ! Wanna come with me to give the cops a beating tomorrow ? It will be fun!"

_Fun..._ A word I didn't know...

I didn't say a thing. I couldn't believe how that person could be my best friend. We were so different... and lately, she'd been so distant... She couldn't even understand me... and I couldn't understand her either. Being so lively in this Hell we were living in ? She couldn't even look at me straight in the eyes... like everyone else...

_"Serves you right ! Little Miss Nothingness !"_

_"She's not like us ! Kill her !"_

_"Go away, freak ! They should kill people like you !"_

_"What's the matter with you useless brat ? Why were you even born ?"_

That last voice echoed in my mind, the loud voice of a man whose words made me feel like sinking into the depths of darkness...

Something burned at the corners of my eyes...

"Dimi ? What's... What's wrong ?"

"I..." I turned my sight next to me, to Nicole. Her hand was on my shoulder, bringing a shudder down my spine. I brought a fake smile to my lips. "Nothing, I'm fine."

Nicole stared at me with furrowed eyebrows. Her jaw was clenched tight but she said nothing, only returned to looking at the nightsky. Did she perhaps see those little tears forming ?

_"The years I spent with her were like these of a little sparrow, learning to fly... She tried to turn me back to who I used to be... But as it were, she would never see the little angel laughing or smile, at least not a smile made of true emotions... All because their voices carried on... and the sorrow along with them."_

"Hm ?"

I glanced at her and saw her frowning and looking up much more carefully. "What's that ?" she asked. I let my gaze wander to where she was staring at but saw nothing out of the ordinary. She grew frustrated by my response. "That ! Over there !" she insisted, pointing vehemently at something in the sky. "Look !"

To be honest... I fell nothing for whatever Nicole could have found... whatever it was, it had nothing to do with me and was probably not really important. However, the impatient glare she shot at me was enough to make me huff silently and get myself off my place and closer to the window. I sat motionless while she was leaning forth outside, in a desperate attempt to see the invisible something that got her attention.

Suddenly, I saw it too ! A small flash of light behind the clouds !

"Nicole... What is it...?"

My friend leaned forth... her eyes widened and her lips parted.

_"But. That was only until that night. Because that night, that night that was no different than the previous ones, held something extraordinary, kept secret until the very end...! Because that night would change our lives..."_

"I can't believe it ! It's... It's a _star _!"

_"...forever !"_

_At the same time, in a different world..._

_The same star the girls view with first-felt awe is being watched by a group of people in Izumo, Japan..._

The star... it's bright light fell though the slid-open paper doors, in the traditional Japanese room, illuminating everything in its path... However, its white gleam felt sinister as it surpassed anything else and cast ominous shadows everywhere... Shadows that everyone could see but few could sense...

"Rahu..." whispered a short old man with a halfly-bald head to himself. The white falling wonder was reflected on his stern black eyes.

"Did you feel it too, Yohmei ?" asked an elderly woman sitting on the floor by his side. He glanced at her blind but wise eyes and nodded. She sighed. "Then our fears were true."

"What are you talking about, Mrs. Kino ?" asked an extremely short boy standing on the edge of the porch with a nervous smile, before he gazed back at the brilliant star. A laid-back boy in black slackers and a white t-shirt, orange headphones on his brown hair, stood beside him with a smile.

"Whoah...! Rahu ! It sure brings back memories ! Right, Morty ?" he asked and smiled at the short one.

"Uh-huh !"

"WOW, DUDE ! KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS ?" cried an over-enthusiastic boy with spiky blue hair, throwing his fist up in the air. A depreciatory "Hmph !" came from the far back and the blue-head turned to see another boy with a purple tongari haircut leaning against the wall. "Whudja say, Len ? Didn't hear ya !"

"It means you're an idiot."

"WHAT WAS THAT ?" yelled the other one and took out an intricate-patterned snowboard. "You tryin' to pick a fight, dude ?"

"Don't dude me !" shouted Len with a tense accent and took out his Chinese weapon, a kwan dao. "I'll take you on anywhere, anytime !"

"That brings back memories too, right Yoh ?" asked Morty and the laid-back boy, Yoh, laughed.

"It sure does !"

"STOP !" screamed a ridiculously tall man with a weird Elvis-like outift and even weirder hairdo. "I WON'T LET ANYONE HARM THE HOUSE OF THE NOBLE ASAKURAS !" He picked both fighting boys up from their necks, lifting them up so that they looked like angry kittens ! The sight was hilarious !

"Aw, c'mon, Rio !" said a smiling Yoh with eyes closed upwards. "That's just their way of showing affection !"

"WHAT ?"

"Now, now, chill out you guys !" said an afro-haired black-skinned teen. His eyes were covered by green shades, hiding the blindness behind them... "This is no reason for you to fight like that !"

"SHUT UP, BANANA COMEDIAN !"

"Oh my God...!" grieved the other one, crying in a dark corner of the room with spotlights on him. The blonde man with the sickly physique but brooding icy blue eyes on the wheel-chair next to him, who was polishing a pierced skull at that moment, smiled and turned to the other two.

"Joco is right, you two." he said, smiling faintly. "You shouldn't fight on such an important moment."

The two boys stopped abruptly and glared at each other with sparks coming out of their glares first but then turned serious.

"Rahu, the Star of Destiny." mused Len, a frown over his golden eyes.

"The star that signals the beginning..." added the other one with a daydreamy smile... but... both's eyes went white with rage.

"WILL YOU LET US DOWN NOW ?"

"Don't shout at me !" growled Rio and took out his own weapon, a wooden sword. A boy with green hair and dim green eyes smiled with eyes shut upwards at this whole spectacle, despite the sweatdrop running down his forehead. However, his face turned thoughtful and he looked at the two elders who were left speechless.

"Mrs. Kino, you said something about 'fears coming true' earlier..."

"Lyserg's right, Granny ! You did say that !" added Yoh and stood between his grandparents.

The woman ignored them completely but her husband spoke for her. "There's something..." He paused and darted the tatami beneath their feet. "...we're afraid of."

Now all fighting in the room stopped and all eyes were fixed on the elder. Only Morty's voice echoed as he said anxiously, "Wh-What is it...?"

Tension... Its shadows spread along with the pale starlight...

"Oh stop it !" blurted the bluehaired boy all of a sudden and pouted. "This is no time for serious philosophical chit-chats ! It is the restart of the Shaman Tournament ! It calls for a fest!"

"It calls for a pest !" popped up a dressed as a fly Joco only to... end up with a black eye and a kwan dao piercing his nose.

"We waited for this for so long since that creep screwed it up last year !" he continued as if nothing had happened and clenched his fist forward, clinching his teeth angrily. He may not admit it, but the tense, heavy atmosphere had affected him too... "We all had our dreams for this case but he burnt them all up ! But now that that's over and the Tournament's back, we can finally enjoy it ! We deserve it, right ?" he asked intensely and took an insecure glance around at his fellows : they were all, especially Lyserg, very sullen suddenly. "After everything we did last year..."

Silence followed his words. Words that brought up the past, a past filled with dreaded memories of a year full of pain...

Everyone remembered the incidents of last year very well... How could they forget after all ? They were indelible, carved on their memory for good. Fire everywhere the eye could see... and the fate of humanity on their shoulders...

An imposing voice echoed in their minds... Yoh's frown twitched and hardened at the terrible sound...

_"I am the savior. I am justice. Those who don't obey shall all be burned !"_

"You're all so serious about this..." remarked Morty, breaking the silence, out of breath and wide-eyed with anxious, inexplicable fear. He started approaching them with uneasy steps. "I mean, heh, he's defeated ! There's no reason to be so gloomy !"

Everyone smiled with new courage and Yoh was about to laugh. "You're right-"

"This is exactly what we're afraid of."

"What...?" they did altogether and their eyes became white saucers of pure shock.

Before anyone could even utter something, a loud bang echoed through the huge estate. They whirled to the paper door and saw three girls barge in. The one in the middle was a dark-blonde girl with vivid amber eyes and a plain black dress, the one on her right was a pink-eyed girl in a rose kimono who held a strange heart-shaped object in her hands and the one on her left, who had long blue hair, was apparently crying.

"TREEEEEEYYYYYY !" she cried out and dashed into the arms of her older brother, the one who had blue hair as well.

"Wh-What's wrong, Pilika ?" he asked her, hugging her in confusion.

"Anna..." said Yoh in awe at the sight of the blonde girl. She ignored him completely and stepped forth with determination.

"Tamra predicted something with her kokkuri board. Something very ugly."

Everyone's perplexed but wary looks darted the third girl, Tamra, whose skin became as pink as her short hair. "I-I-I was just showing Pilika how to use it... and..."

"And it turned bad !" finished the mentioned girl, still crying in her brother's arms. Trey patted her back, not knowing what else to do. No one in the room knew what to do in general, as they were left with looking at the elders and Anna carefully, while not understanding a thing.

"Why are you like this ?" stammered Morty, the heavy atmosphere showing in his shaky tone. "This is the Tournament we're talking about ! We should be-"

"Idiot." Anna interrupted, shoting him a glare. "You forget what, besides the Tournament, comes with the star."

"Erm... Ketu ?" guessed Yoh but Anna's deathshot scowl was enough to make him shut up.

Yohmei's dark eyes drifted from one person to another until they stopped on Tamra, his disciple, who lowered her head in shame. _So Tamra sensed it too... _"Tamra." he said and she yelped. "What did you see ?"

The girl's hair on the nape of her neck rose up with the chill that ran down her spine. Nevertheless, she avoided looking at him and said with a strained voice.

"I saw Hao... revived."

"WHAT ?"

That loud scream that shred through the night was followed by more immediately.

"What did you say ?" exclaimed a shocked Trey and Len beside him added, "Absurd ! Hao's not supposed to return for the next five hundred years !"

"There's no way he'd be alive ! Master Yoh cut him in two ! Faust, you saw it too !" yelled Rio and looked to the invalid blonde man, whose serious eyes were locked on a spot in front of him as he added, "No one could ever survive an injury like that."

"Yeah ! And there was this huge explosion right after !" shouted Joco, in such a way that he seemed more like trying to convince himself.

"Anna-san, say something !" cried a panicked Morty and Yoh, his eyes white from astonishment and fear, said in a trembling voice, "You must be joking... Anna...!"

The girl stared at them with narrowed eyes, patiently waiting for them to stop... But as they wouldn't, she inhaled a sharp, deep breath...

"IDIOTS ! ALL OF YOU !"

Yoh sweatdropped like mad. "But, Anna..."

"Before you go on telling me it's impossible, try remembering things correctly." she said coldly, quickly. Their lips stayed aghast as they had nothing to say, except for Joco who asked warily, "Y-You're not going to tell us that our memory of Hao being cut in half is fake, right ?"

Anna was about to start shouting when a curt sound of surprise came from someone...

They all turned to Lyserg, whose green eyes were dilated and his lips trembling and parted. "I got it..." he said slowly, staring at the floor with that dreadful look. "Hao's pact with Taizan Fukun, the King of Hell... It never stated anything about the time of revival. Just 'the next Tournament'."

Suddenly, comprehending what he meant, all eyes turned to Anna and the two elderly people, who were as anxious as them. Morty's shaking voice only continued piecing the lost pieces of this large, discouraging puzzle.

"Hao was never revived exactly every five hundred years. He can get out of there whenever he wants to prepare for the Tournament... and the next Tournament is _now._"

"...It'll all work out..." Yoh's voice came through the smothering silence. He sounded like smiling... but when they looked at him, they only saw the attempt of a smile. "Let's do the same thing as before ! I'll take that huge form again and-"

"That was out of luck, Yoh." Len said in a drowned, furious voice. "And you cannot beat him with the same trick twice ! You saw what happened to Anna's ten-eighty beads rosary..."

The boy's flicker of a smile disappeared, to be replaced by a clenched jaw...

Loss of hope... That's the feeling that conquered their hearts, leaving them breathless, with the kind of sensation one has when he is robbed of all his dreams, all his hopes... They thought they had helped this world, that they had helped in saving it from the flames of that man... but they were mistaken... and now there was nothing they could do against him...

"There was more to Tamra's prediction though."

Now they jolted altogether and blinked at Anna. Her cold voice was for once able to light a smile up on their faces.

"That's great ! Way to go, Tammy-chan !" did Rio with a wink and the girl blushed beet red but Len urged her, "What did you see ?"

"I..." she stammered and looked to her Master. Both he and Anna nodded at her with encouragement and she spoke up, frowning with determination. "I used my board and my sketchbook to make out the words and I got a message." She took a painting sketchbook from behind her kokkuri board and held it out in front of her. Her eyes moving from the suffocating burden and her whole body trembling, she took a deep breath and read aloud...

"In another world, different from ours..."

_"...two girls live."_

Flashes of bright light reflected on my empty eyes... Bright... I'd never seen something like that before... A large sphere of pale starlight, slowly shreding the sky and grey clouds in half...

"A _star..._" Nicole repeated, whispering in an emotion she'd called 'awe'. "It's really a star... It's so beautiful..."

I did not know how Nicole knew what it was or how it was called. The only 'stars' I'd previously seen were drawn in forgotten picture books and they looked nothing like what I was witnessing. Whatever it was though, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever laid eyes on... It was enough to let a warm feeling fill the broken object in my chest, my heart...

"Nicole..."

"Mm ?" she did absently.

"Let's make a wish..."

"GAH- What ?" she shouted and whirled to me. "Hello ? Earth to Dimi, over ! It's only a star, get over it !"

_Only a star...? I've never seen anything more wonderful than this...! _I turned to look at her. Her eyes had lost the lively essence of the moment and were under furrowed eyebrows. "You're not serious are you ?" she whispered.

"A...A wish is what you do when you see a... shooting star... right ?" I asked her with an uneasy expression of my own, recalling old, painful memories, locked away for a long long time. "It's the first time I see one so... why don't we do one ? Please..." My voice broke at the last word.

Nicole stared at me, surprised, then back to the miracle of night we were witnessing. "It truly is beautiful..." she said finally. "But I wonder, are we the only ones seeing it ? I don't see anyone looking up at it from here !"

"Of course." I said tonelessly, my gaze drifting into nothingness. "They use their eyes for common things without meaning. They're nothing but empty vessels, empty hearts, empty souls."

"Look who's talking..." she said unintentionally. I didn't react at all. Only closed my eyes slowly.

_But why does it feel... like a ringing headache...?_

When I opened them again, I came face to face with the brilliant star, gradually falling... as if Heaven wanted us to take a good look at it, sate ourselves with this wonder... How could such beauty appear in this soulless world ? Such a wondrous sight... among the filth of our world ? The orphanage walls vanished, giving their place to a field full of paper flowers and stars and a clear sky... where my eyes wouldn't be empty and I would be able to smile... a true, genuine happy smile... _What if a world like that really existed ?_

"Then I'd like to be living in it..." I whispered softly, captivated by my own mind...

A hand patted my back softly, snapping me out of my fantasies. Nicole smirked at me. "Hey, alright, I'll do you the favor so let's wish something."

I blinked twice. "What will it be ?"

She gasped and glared at me with comical anger. "WHAT ? _I _dunno ! You're the one who wants to make a wish !"

"Well..." That blissful heaven filled my mind again... and this again was worth it. "...I'm weary of this place, Nicole."

"Explain your point please ?"

"That it would be great if the wish could get us to another world... a happy one... What do you say ?"

Her face remained still like stone; with her eyebrows raised up to her hairline and lips shut tight. "I say that you're taking this too seriously." she said sternly and rolled her eyes. "Wishes don't do that. Wishes don't do anything. They're just a farce created by some kind of... of stupid asshole who wanted to pass his time !"

"Like your..."

"Yes, like him !" she burst angrily to make me stop. I withdrew my eyes from her and back to the star... still there.

_"One of them, deprived of emotions, the other, shielded by a mask."_

None of us talked for some quiet time... Only the sounds of the night filled the silence...

"And even if wishes _did _come true..." Nicole said suddenly, still serious. "I wouldn't want to leave. I've lived in this place my whole life and now what : I suddenly go away ? Tch !" she did firmly but turned towards me with a smile. "Let's do this for... let's say... fun !" I simply looked at her and then lowered my gaze. _Silly stuff... she's smiling again... and it looks so true... I wish I could smile like that too... a true smile..._

"Okay, that's fine with me." I said and smiled, fakely. She flashed me one last grin before turning towards the shooting star and closing her peculiar eyes. When I looked at it though, my fake smile faded into naught... I closed my eyes and brought my twined hands to my lips, like in the prayers I've seen Nicole doing. Rays of light stroked my face, like a gentle touch wipping my tears away... like I longed for it for so long...

_Please... Wh__at__ever you are... Take me away... Only this..._

_"They're the saviors, the ones to stop evil once and for all."_

When I opened my eyes, Nicole had already opened hers and was waiting for me to finish. We stayed like that for seconds to come, just looking at each other. Suddenly, she tossed her arms in the air.

"I think I'll go sleep." she yawned. "Man ! Wishing upon stars is so exhausting !" She stretched once more and curled under her itchy beige blanket, causing her black schoolbag with the two studded pockets and red skull patch fall down on the dusty floor with a loud thud.

A voice, Mrs. Mariah's voice, echoed from downstairs. "Fucking brats ! Go to bed now !" I half-closed my eyes sadly and noticed Nicole raising her middle finger towards the door, muttering, "I _am _in my bed... shitface."

I let out a small sigh and turned then slowly towards the star. It was still falling... falling... and falling... I curled up, with my knees to my chest and my arms hugging them. Strange... the only one ever hugging me was my own self, these dainty arms of mine... Tears welled from my empty eyes... again... again... and again... Maybe the star up there was like my tears ? Or maybe it was like me ? Maybe it didn't like Heaven and it wanted to go somewhere else or die...

_"However, their task will be a difficult path on which they'll be apart."_

My cheeks stinged from the remnant stains of tears. I wiped them away with the loose cold sleeve of my black cardigan... but when I withdrew my hand and opened my eyes, I came face to face with something I didn't expect : the whole room, slowly drowning into bright light... going even brighter... and brighter...! I glanced around me slowly. The details started turning fuzzy, fading in and out into the pale shine. _Is this because of the star ? _I turned to see Nicole... but something else caught my attention.

My right sleeve, cut up. "When did this happen...?" I wondered softly but my breath caught when more cuts came, everywhere on my clothes. My lips parted but I was unable to say anything.

"Nicole. Nicole...!" I whispered, shaking her shoulders to wake her up.

"Mm.. DIMITRA, WHAT HAPPENED IN HERE ?" As she sprang out of her bed, her clothes started getting cut too. She widened her eyes in shock and terror. "WHAT'S THIS ?" She ran to the door but it was nowhere to be found, not in such bright light. "What have you done ?" She turned to me, about to catch my arm to protect me when suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew, taking us both away from each other.

"DIMITRAAAAA !"

She made more attempts to catch my hand but the wind kept blowing us away from each other. Was the star doing all this ? I looked around for it, my eyes widened for the first time in my life. I could see objects swirling everywhere in the air and bright light but I couldn't find the star ! I couldn't move. My whole body trembled by something's force. My head hurt. Everything faded in and out into black... I knew I was about to faint... Nicole tried desperately to catch my hand... her lips moved to tell me something...

_Is this what dying feels like...?_

Her fingers barely grazed my own fingertips but the wind was too strong.

A flash of light then and everything disappeared.

All my senses had vanished.

White everywhere.

No sounds.

No Nicole trying to reach my hand.

Nothing at all.

My eyes closed slowly and even the endless white disappeared from sight...

_Goodnight, Nicole..._

"...Our two destined saviors, a gift from another world."

As soon as she finished, Tamra took a look at the people around her. No one reacted. Everyone bore serious expressions, comprehending the nature of the situation.

"It's a prophecy then." Kino shred the silence with her voice. "The Prophecy of Rahu."

Yohmei next to her clinched his teeth and his hand tightened around the hilt of his walking stick.

_So many things, happening so quickly... _

He was trembling...

_Damn you, Hao !_

_Okay, so this was the first chappie ! Some of you have read this before but this has some differences, right ? Oh well. Can't wait to see your comments both on the story's comeback ! And the pictures... when they're ready. ^^"_

_-EleganXD_


	2. Angels Fall First

_**The Gift From Another World**_

_**Angels Fall First**_

_Awright, second chappie here ! ^^ I should stop saying chappie, it reminds me of Chappy from Bleach... __=.=__ Now, enjoy ! __OwO_

"Mmm..."

"She's waking up !"

"Wow, dude, she's beautiful !"

"As if we have time to notice trivial stuff like that !"

"Oh, don't be like that, Len !"

"She's one of the girls of the Prophecy, right, Master Yohmei ?"

"She could be... but still, she's only one."

"Just like in my Prophecy !"

"Oh my Shaman Queen !"

"Uhm, Rio... I thought Mr. Mikihisa had told you you'd find your Shaman Queen when it's time-"

"This IS the time, my little friend ! I can feel it !"

"Maybe she'd wake up if she heard one of my jokes !"

"THAT'S NO TIME FOR JOKES, IDIOT !"

_CRASH !_

"Anna, it wasn't necessary to break the vase..."

"I've done everything I could. She should wake up soon."

_Ugh... so much noise... Where am I...? _Nicole felt a thin matress below her. Her eyelids opened up, glancing around through a blur at the worried faces of the people around her... _Wait. People ?_

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU ?"

_After one hour of explaining and screaming..._

"You're not serious, are you ? Me and Dimitra aren't warriors that can save the world ! Okay, _I _am but Dimi certainly is _not _! And who said I wanna help you, anyway ?" complained Nicole.

"Yes, but still this is what the Prophecy says." said the old man named Yohmei calmly.

Nicole ignored him completely and looked around her apathetically. The boy with horn-shaped hair called Len was leaning against the wall in the far back, with eyes closed and arms crossed. He didn't seem to be happy having her around. _I'm not happy to be here either, assho__l__e ! _Yoh, the _stupidly _smiling one, sat near his grandparents and the _shorty _next to him eyed her with a nervous look she completely scorned. _That's good, fear me, jackass. _The boy named Horohoro but called Trey kept staring at her thoughtfully, just like his little _dorky _sister and the girl called Anna did. Another man, who was on a wheelchair and holding the hand of a blonde woman next to him, named Faust VIII, _(VIII ? What is he, a prince ?) _eyed her with those _creepy _blue eyes of his. The only one not even caring to 'look' was a guy, Joco, whom she disliked as soon as she saw him because of his stupid puns, not only because he was blind, but also because he was lying on the corner, covered in scars. A _stupid _guy in a weird Elvis-suit and even weirder hair gawked at her with heart-shaped eyes and drool. _Bleh, gross ! _Tamra, a withdrawn, shy girl, kept asking her whether she'd like to drink or eat something. She stared at her pink outfit and the room she was in. _That's a kimono, right ? The floor is tatami... I'm in Japan ? _As she thought of this, her eyes stopped on a green-haired boy in a green checked cape. She recalled his name was Lyserg. He occassionally glanced at her seriously, then back on the wall again. _What a jerk !_

"We need both of you." added then Kino, the elder woman.

"I don't care what this stupid prophecy thing says." she growled. "After all, you guys are lunatics ! Shamans ? Spirits ? Don't make me laugh ! I won't stay here with you tralalilaloos any longer !"

"We've already told you, you and your friend must be shamans too." said Yohmei, unfazed by her anger.

Nicole rolled her eyes and clenched her fists on the floor. "That's even more loco ! We can't be shamans ! If I were a shaman, I would had noticed it !"

"And how exactly would you do that ?" he asked.

She pouted and glared at the man prominently at a loss for words. "...I dunno ! The thing is, I'm not a shaman ! And those things about spirits ? Who do you think I am ? A kindergarden kiddo ?"

"But you're are already seeing one !"

"WAH !" she did in surprise at the sudden appearance of a man with a tengu mask... standing on the ceiling ! "Who are you, old man !"

"Asakura Mikihisa, Yoh's father. But you can call me Mickey." said the masked person while jumping down on the floor. Nicole only glared. _Mikihisa ? Che ! To think that I call the old hag 'Karapizza' !_ "Anyway, the thing is, you already have a spirit you're making fun of right in front of you !" He pointed somewhere.

She followed his index finger but only saw the blonde woman in a white nurse's outfit standing next to the invalid _creepy guy. _"What about her ?"

"Eliza over there." said Mickey, his voice blurry behind his mask. "She's Faust's murdered wife."

_Murdered...? _Nicole's eyes slowly widened...

"Surely you must have noticed it before. Dead people all around you. 'Ghosts' you may call them. Perhaps you didn't realize they were dead people ?"

_That woman was killed ? But I can see her ! It must be a trick ! No, wait ! _She gritted her teeth together, remembering all those times she had encountered people with lively eyes except for herself... even though she knew she was the only one who had emotions - and was alive. _I'd always tell myself I didn't believe in ghosts so I ignored them ! But- !_

"Don't screw with me ! There's no way I'm a shaman !" she retorted and balled her fists tightly.

Mikihisa sighed. "Just the fact that you can see spirits is proof that you have that potential."

Nicole had no idea what to say to reply to this, to someone who talked about _looney subjects like that crap _in such a serious and knowledgeable way. She only bit her lip, a sweatdrop trickling down her temple. _Still, I don't get it... I don't get any of those crap they've told me about..._

_Most of these guys want to become the 'Shaman King', who's decided by the 'Shaman Tournament'. The 'Shaman King' gets God, 'the Great Spirit' as his partner. The star me and Dimi saw was 'Rahu', a star that signals the beginning of the 'Shaman Tournament', which is done to find the next 'Shaman King', but is also followed by 'K__etu__', another star, and the two of them together bring this 'destruction'. Now, the 'Shaman King' must save the world from this 'greeeat destruction' ! Okay, and my role here ?_

_There's also this spooky guy named __'__Hao__'__ or whatever who reincarnates every time the 'Shaman Fight' occurs and wants to get the 'Great Spirit' to rid the world of all normal humans and create his 'Shaman-only Kingdom' ! Aaaaha ! And then he woke up ! Literally. Cuz those fools here killed him last year but he's reincarnated again. Why can't he sit in one place and shut the Hell up? Anyway and now they need __**us **__to kick his shitty butt !_

"Why can't _you_ guys do it ?" she snapped and crossed her arms. "It's not _my_ problem ! You're the ones who have a fight to pick with that Hio, Heo or whatever you called him." She took another quick look at all of them and groaned. "I'm not from this place anyway !"

"What can you do about it ? You want to find that friend of yours, don't you ? Then I'll have to tell you it won't be easy. You may have a chance if you stay here, find a spirit ally, train and become a proper shaman. Understood ?" Anna's amber eyes glared at her directly at her own. Nicole clinched her teeth. How dare she order her around like that !

"Nggh..." she did in frustration and stood up abruptly. "Fine ! If I beat any one of you, then it means I can leave, find my friend and go back home !"

"I thought you said your world was a place full of crap." said Len suddenly, cracking one eye open to glare at her. "Then why're you so eager to go back there ?"

"Shut up, male scum !" she snapped. "I don't answer to scum like you and I don't let them adress me ! So bow your head and say 'yes, ma'am', or I'll kill you !"

"What did you say ?" shouted the boy and drew out his kwan-dao. Nicole blinked once at the sight of the peculiar weapon, then hardened her frown.

"What ?" she did in spite. "Are you deaf ?"

"You-!"

"Alright, I'll fight you."

All sounds stopped. Nicole's lips parted in surprise as she turned, stunned, to the direction of the calm voice.

Lyserg.

"What ?" she asked in disbelief.

"Who's the deaf one now ?" He extended his right hand, a strange device on his arm.

Nicole smirked, despite her clenched up jaw. "So ! You have a deathwish, eh, greeny boy ?"

"The name's Lyserg Diethel." he said politely. However, he wouldn't move. Instead, he only looked at her.

"What ?" she did in irritation.

"You're supposed to give your full name too. It's called 'politeness'."

_Huh ?_ She stood there, looking at him with her eyebrows arched as if saying 'What the...?' and then... burst into laughter. "HAHAHAHAHAHAH ! Politeness, you say ? Very well !" She pointed at herself with her thumb and then assumed a fighting stance. "Nicole Westmore and this is the last thing you hear !"

And with that, she dashed to him with a punch but something came out of Lyserg's odd device, something like a rope, and wrapped around her waist, throwing her out of the house and into the yard. Before she fell, she noticed long wire and a shiny glass pendulum with a fairy in it. _What the- ?_

"ARGH !"

"See ? That's what a shaman can do." said Lyserg, standing on the end of the porch while Nicole was raising herself up. "You fight with the help of your spirit ally."

"Thanks but..." she started and dashed to him again. "I CAN FIGHT ON MY OWN !" Lyserg's pendulum extended towards her again and tossed her away once more but this time, she kickjumped on a tree's trunk and prepared to kick him square on the head. "Gotcha !"

"I don't think so."

She barely saw it when the pendulum got her legs and hit her on the ground. She lifted herself up with much struggle. It maddened her... She was played with and slowly turned to a rag, whereas _that jerk _had barely moved his little finger ! _How ? How can he do that !_

Everyone had gathered out on the porch, breathtakenly watching the pointless fight. They could see Nicole was mighty but she had no chance of winning. After all, Lyserg was a shaman.

"THAT'S IT !"

"Give up, Nicole. I can't kill you and you know it. We all need you." said Lyserg apathetically while throwing her away one more time. He stood right in front of her. "What do you say ?"

"I say NO !" she yelled and kicked his stomach. However, before she could stand up, Lyserg lost his balance and fell on her.

The two looked at each other in astonishment, as their eyes met for a couple of breathless seconds. Nicole felt her heart skip a beat at the sight of him so close to her and, for a split second, her senses seemed to blurr...

_No ! I've learned my lesson since then ! And what I learned is..._

"NEVER TRUST BOYS !" she yelled and, all of a sudden, kicked him square on his crotch, throwing him away. The rage flowing in her ; she could feel it and it made her body tremble.

Lyserg stood up, dusting off his clothes. He then looked at her. _She's breathing heavily. She's already tired too much. _"You've already reached your limit."

"I haven't !" she retorted with a completely lost temper and took her fighting stance.

The boy sighed, aware of what would happen. His pendulum wrapped around her legs, throwing her back on the ground. Nicole tried to get up but only managed to raise her torso. She was too tired and weakened to move any more than that... _How ? How can this happen ? Grr ! It must be from the whole star thing ! Move, stupid legs ! _She could hear her opponent coming closer. But when she turned to glare at him, she came face to face with him standing right in front of her. In addition to this, his diamond-like pendulum threatened to cut her neck...

"How do you do that ?" she whispered, out of breath, still staring at the pendulum floating before her.

"You will do similar things as soon as you become a proper shaman." came Lyserg's answer.

"Ha ! Keep that in mind ! I don't compromise with the events and conditions, I'm the one making them ! Not to mention that I refuse to do something a boy tells me to-"

Before she could even finish her sentence, she felt the warm of the red liquid people know as blood trickling on her cheek. She was stunned. _He did that to me ? It's the first time in all those years someone has even scratched me !_

"Look. I dunno what's your problem with trusting or what's your problem with boys but I'll tell you this and don't consider it a command ; consider it friendly advice. Leave your problems behind and limit your rage. That way you'll focus on what is really important. In this case, what is important to you is to find your friend. Understood ?" he said firmly.

"Tch ! Understood." groaned Nicole.

He smiled gently at her response and held out his hand to her. "Okay then. Seems that we'll get to hang out since you lost !" However, her reaction wasn't quite the reaction he hoped she'd have. Nicole slapped his hand and stood up on her own. She looked at him angrily in the eyes and then walked forward. Her long, brown curls were waving as she walked on, as if she didn't feel the pain of her injuries.

"It doesn't mean that I'll hang out with the likes of you, just because I have to stick around ! Once I find Dimitra, I'm outta here !"

Lyserg blinked. He couldn't help but smile.

"...Who is this ?"

"Is it an angel ?"

"Angels don't simply appear like that, Peyote."

"Whatever. Let's just kill her ! She doesn't look strong anyway ! Even as a shaman, she'd be useless ! Don't you agree, Mari ?"

"Fool ! Don't impose your opinion on Lord Hao !"

"...My Lord..."

"She emanates a small amount of furyoku."

"A shaman then ?"

"Not necessarily."

"What should we do ? Leave her here ?"

"Or kill her ?"

"It doesn't matter. She-"

"Lord Hao ! She's waking up !"

Voices... Many of them... The other kids at the orphanage...? My back was against something pointy... like grass... and my whole body was numb... and aching... I tried opening my eyes. My eyelids felt heavy. What I came across though wasn't the smothering ceiling of my room, but something tall and green right above me... _Trees...? _A bright light slipped through the dense treeleaves, soaking me in warmth. _Is this Heaven...? No, otherwise I wouldn't be in pain, would I ? Where am I...?_

I tried to raise myself up but it was futile. I closed my eyes and struggled again, raising me back on my bottom at least.

But when I opened my eyes... it was _not_ good !

"Hey, are you hurt ?" said an older boy and extended his hand to me.

"Ah- !" my breath hitched in my chest and I slapped his hand away.

"How dare you slap Lord Hao ?" cried a young woman with blue hair. That's when I realized the crowd gathered around me. My eyes widened at seeing them all. It was the first time... the first time I'd ever felt this strange... emotion... Fear... I'd been confronted and beaten up countless times before... but I could never feel fear... However, there was something about this large and unusual group of people that made my heart beat faster, my pulses race and my head spin... Something like suffocation, like my heart being clenched together... Especially from that person standing closer to me...

Curling up against the tree behind me, I locked my eyes on him, a painful, afraid and strained expression on my face for once. He turned to look at me too. He had long dark brown hair, almost black. He wore a knee-length white cloak and elaborate dark trousers with additional belt straps with star patterns and dark red attachments. But most importantly... his look scared me. His eyes on me scared me... Everything about him was enough to make me shrink to my place the moment he came and stood right in front of me.

"Who are you ?" he asked... with a gentle voice... and his lips slightly curled up... I attempted to avoid looking at him but I knew that he wasn't doing the same. I knew because... it was like his eyes were piercing through my soul...!

"This girl gets on my nerves. Shall I kill her, Lord Hao ?" came the voice of that woman from earlier. I widened my eyes in fear again. _What do they want to do with me...?_

"It's only natural she's afraid, Kanna. Now, don't worry about what we want to do with you. We just want to help you."

Now my eyes dilated from shock too. _It's as if he can read my mind ! _I slowly turned around to look at him, unable to take my usual, apathetic face... and unable to take my eyes off him, off his smile and off those eyes... as if, if I even glanced away once, he would kill me right here and now. There were also his words... Help...? Help me ? Why would he care...?

_I... I shouldn't let my guard down...! Not to him, not to anyone...! _

"Hah ! It seems you're not an easy person to touch her heart." he said and suddenly, I saw it - flames burning in his eyes... "Or are you ?"

I had no idea what I should say. All I knew was that I wanted to run, run as far as my weak legs could carry me. But still... I could not withdraw my gaze away from him... Whenever I tried to do so, my body began shivering... and for once, I wasn't sure whether it was from the perpetual cold... That smile of his... that...strength he emanated... I couldn't take it anymore... I saw him, however, blink in surprise for a second and I realized my cheeks were still itchy with the tears of last night... Had this person seen them ?

I turned my head to the side, away from his prominent gaze. Hairstrands slipped in front of my eyes, hiding them... I didn't want this stranger to look at them... I didn't want someone to appear out of thin air and look at my empty eyes for the first time... especially now that they were scorching with the blur of forming tears...

"Why are you hiding ?" He folded his fingers under my chin and made me turn, so as for me to look straight into his fiery, amber eyes... those _lively _eyes...

I tried to move but I couldn't feel my body... and additionally, he wouldn't let me leave. He frowned for an instant but then smiled... so gently, as gently as he ran his finger down the side of my face, making the tears finally fall...

"You don't need to hide." he said quietly, his voice a little higher than a whisper. With his other hand, he wiped my tears away...

I couldn't breathe... My heart had stopped in my chest... Just like time had... Everything had disappeared from sight, everything... except for him... Accepting my emptiness... wiping my tears... away... I wanted to move but at the same time I couldn't... I felt so insignificant, so small, so weak... I wanted him to go away but at the same time, I wanted him to stand there and keep looking at my eyes for eternity...

"There is nothing for you here. And considering your looks, you can't survive here either. See my point ?" he whispered, still boring into my eyes. I couldn't say anything. I just closed them, thinking that this was the only way of keeping him from touching my soul. Suddenly, he took his fingers off of me. "I don't have much time, you know ! I'd tell you to come with us but I see you prefer to die here alone."

I half-opened my eyes, still hesitant to look up at him and the rest of the group... But I could clearly see him turning his back at me, like everyone else, preparing to leave...

_Wait... Don't go...!_

"Please." ..._don't hurt me._

The boy and his companions turned around to look at me. I lowered my gaze slowly as I heard his steps on the grass, coming closer to me...

"I..." I tried to say but couldn't speak. _You're right... I am helpless... But no one can change that... Just... please, stranger... don't break me..._

He chuckled warmly and extended his hand to me once more. "You can call me Hao, _stranger _!"

"Dimitra." I uttered and slowly, took his hand...

_It's funny how differently they both react to people holding their hands out at them. xD Nywayz, that's it for the remake of the second chapter of 'Gift' ! -cheers for my super fingers- I've said it before, but I'll say it again that, -takes deep breath-, I got the title from Nightwish's first album, 'Angels Fall First'. There are many inspired titles later. Also, I warn you that the names appear as seen in the Kanzen-ban profiles ! But sometimes, stuff like 'furyoku' will appear in the Viz way. Okay ? ^^ Stay tuned till next time for the new chapter... and Nicole and Lyserg's wedding ! xD -looks at angry real-life Nicole- Kidding. Don't worry. -silly smile, sweatdrop- I don't think I should remind to some that my best friend is basically more-or-less Nicole's creator ? But we'll call her Nicky-chan, so that we're not confused. And my name's Dimitra too. Ehehe. ^^"_

_**Midenigufutsu koyote**__ : Thank you ! :3 As the story's first reviewer, you get one extra cookie, along with the standard cookie for, well, reviewing. x) Hope waiting didn't tire you out. Unfortunately, all chapters will be published at the end of the month, which is (sadly, I know) a rather long time. At least I'll try to make each chapter worthy of the anticipation. OwO_

_-EleganXD_


	3. A Tale Of False Truths

_**The Gift From Another World**_

_**A Tale Of **__**False Truths**_

_Don't panic everyone ! OwO This is not a new chapter ! This is 'Unreal Past' in its new title ! Yup, yup, some ti__tl__es __**have **__changed. _ I'm not sure who's better ? Tell me your opinion ! Plus, I'd like to add that... drumroll please... that every time a new character appears in the story, I'll post the link for his or her sketch in the author's note ! Like now...! -sneaky smirk to those who know whom I mean- With no further ado... enjoy ! ^^_

No words.

No feelings.

Nothing could describe what I was experiencing right now.

A different world... I still couldn't believe it...

We had stopped on a large clearing, where there was nothing but a large fire burning... a fire that _he_ lit himself, just with by looking at some wood ! I couldn't believe it... like I couldn't believe anything anymore. I was curled up by that large, warm fire... It brought back bittersweet memories... I recalled from the saddest pits of my memories, how much I loved fire. So colorful, so warm... the only thing I was drawn to in my grey, cold world... Its flames didn't seem like danger to me... Instead, as they reflected on the empty mirrors of my soul, they seemed like a god, a god who's only worshipper was sad, little me. I was in a trance... But like always, its soothing warmth wasn't enough to take the cold away... I was trembling and had my hands clasped on my arms like I always did... however, just boring into the sight of it was all I could need right then...

I had even forgotten that Nicole wasn't with me... that our wish was a success... or that the people that took me with them were talking in a corner, probably about me...

My clothes were a mess of cuts. _It must had been that light yesterday... I can't keep going around in this... It makes me feel... like my defenses are down. _I snapped out of my trance and slowly looked behind my shoulder at the group of people... _And they are the reason why I shouldn't let my defenses fall._

They were such a peculiar team... They even had little children with them. All of them were from different countries... But most importantly, all of them had something extraordinary about them. The woman who strongly opposed me earlier this day was called Kanna Bismarch and she was the leader of a sub-team of the group, called Hanagumi or else, Team Flower. The other two, Marion Phauna and Matilda Matisse, two black-clad young girls, didn't seem that keen on having me around either. I got the same impression from a tall man dressed in black and a strange hat too. He was sullen and would not talk... and he had this cross tattoo on his chin... A man whose face I couldn't see due to his veil and turbine, wasn't talking at all as well. I learned his name was Turbine. His fellow though, a man whose face I couldn't see either, hidden behind goggles, a strange hat and a multicolored square scarf, was trying to get answers out of me. He was holding a guitar all the time... There were also two people, Hang Zang-Ching and Big Guy Bill, who were frighteningly large and strong looking. The latter even held one of the weirdest members, Blocken Meyer, on his shoulder. None of those three expressed any opinions about me... but that other person, that little child, Opacho, was glancing at me all the time with those big eyes of hers... _Those lively eyes..._

_Trees... a guitar... and not a single person with empty eyes... Proof that I'm in a different world..._

I reminiscented on our way here. Hao had asked me if I could walk and it was difficult for me but he refused to let me walk like I always did. So... he took me in his arms. A shiver coursed through my body at the memory and I curled up tighter. It was like a sweet suffocation, smothering fire tangling me in warmth... I was breathless and unable to see clearly... but it brought a wonderful feeling... On the way, he told me all kinds of things. Not only about his team but about this place too. _He said we're in America... but this America isn't the way I know it. I thought it was... just a place full of scyscrapers and constant rain, mingling with dense __cold__ and moisture... but this place...! It's miraculous...! _

However, he also said more things... About people able to see spirits and work with them, people called shamans... That's why he could light up that fire after all. Because of his spirit ally, the Spirit of Fire. Everyone in that team were shamans. I simply believed his every word... simply because as he said all these, he was looking at me in the eyes... with his piercing through me... I couldn't take it... To think that I let him hold me, let him touch me...

_An other world... Nicole... Where is she then ? Was I the only one taken here...?_

"You ever talk ?"

I held my breath. That girl, Opacho, had come and stood right beside me. Her eyes were heartbreaking... Was that how the eyes of people should be ? Full of emotions...?

I said nothing to her and she pouted in response. "Hey, you no hear ?" Again I preferred not to reply. I simply turned to the fire burning in front of me... Its crackles echoed like a soft lullaby...

"You seem to like that fire very much."

I gasped so bad, I could no longer breathe. Warmth touched my shoulder... and then I turned to my side to see _him _coming to sit next to me on the ground, his relaxed arm on his raised knee.

My eyes lingered on him but his were locked on the flames... Opacho sat on my other side and I couldn't help but look down in sorrow. _It is the first time I'm surrounded by so many people who don't mean to harm me... or do they ?_

"Hahahahaha !" I looked sideways at Hao sadly... he could _laugh_... "Of course not ! Do we have a reason to ?"

_It's as if he's read my mind again... _"Then why would you keep me here ?"

"Is it so wrong helping people ?" he smirked. "After all, you had no option but to come with us." I looked back at the fire... I no longer wanted to see his reactions, full of emotions I couldn't feel...

_I don't believe you... Why would anyone help me ? You just want to use me for something I don't know..._

"No, do you want to know what I want ?" I heard his warm voice and when I turned to him reluctantly, I saw a soft smile. "Your heart to open."

I widened my eyes. He was looking at them directly again... while asking for my heart to open ?

"I'm intrigued. I want to know more about you, Dimitra."

"You're lucky Nicole isn't here."

"Who's that ?" I said nothing more and Hao broke out into a quiet laugh again. "You talk so much !"

"Dimitra too shy !" said Opacho with a wide smile to which he replied with a soft one. One that faded when he noticed me... my eyes locked on the flames sorrowfully...

"Why are you like this ?" he whispered... with this tone someone else would call... _'caringly'..._

"How can you do that...? Smile... and laugh..." Tears began forming in my eyes... trickling down my cheeks... "I wish I could do that too..."

"Dimitra cry ?" Opacho's child-like voice came and she was standing in front of me, trying to look at me... with worry...

Hao paused for a second and asked, "Why can't you do it ?"

I only closed my eyes and shook my head... How could he believe all that I could say to him...? "You wouldn't understand..." All those people... feeling different emotions, so many of them, so much happiness, anger, surprise, hate, love... whereas I could only feel sorrow and pain and this endless cold... But then I felt warmth. Warmth on my right wet cheek...

"Peyote was right. You do look like an angel. Especially now that you're crying. But that's not a good thing..." said Hao softly as his hand stroked my cheek tenderly, smearing the tears away with his gloved hand... No one was talking. Even Opacho. Only the constant crackles of the fire... like the fire blazing in his eyes ferociously once more... and reminding me of my best friend.

"Tell me. I'll understand." he said again and I tried to turn away, but Hao took my chin and made me not to. He made me look into his eyes...

_It was like I could see my soul... My self, standing in front of a wall of glass... and though I was sad, I was also relieved that it existed, because it meant protection, safety... But it disappeared. It started turning into millions of tiny fragments and I looked at my hands to see... that I was breaking too... and the one responsible was him. Hao and only Hao._

I wished that, for a second, my eyes could show what I wanted to say... that I didn't want to talk about my world... It happened with Nicole, why couldn't it happen to me too ? _Please... _

He smirked slightly. "I'm pressuring you." he remarked and closed his eyes with a smile. "Oh well. It's only the first day. Go to sleep, Dimitra." He withdrew his hand and stood up, walking away with Opacho on his tail.

Before he left, he turned around and called out at me, "By the way, your clothes are cut in places ! I'll tell Hanagumi to give you new ones, they must have something !"

And so he disappeared completely... leaving me there with the flames... letting me sink into that trance.. back in my inner world, where that girl was trying to pick up the pieces he had just broken...

_One night..._

_In Izumo... Days passed... And Nicole was bored out of her mind ; the only thing she was doing was being tortured with stupid exercises she had to do..._

_And all for what ? For defeating that Hiao guy or whatever they call him ! _

"Nicole, eat your food or I'll make you do one hundred push-ups tomorrow !" said Anna with her cold voice. Nicole glared sideways at her, picking at the taiyaki they had put in front of her.

"I don't need push-ups or any of that crap !" she retorted and banged her fist on the table. "I can kill each and every one of you !"

"We know that very well." Yohmei sighed. "Nevertheless, it doesn't erase the fact that what you need after a hard day's training is energy refill. Something you get from food and sleep. So eat." he added with a deep look in his eyes.

Nicole blinked in astonishment, as his words lit a spark of déjà vu in her... All the times that she struggled to make Dimitra eat something, to make her sleep, for her own sake - but Dimitra would always refuse, ending up even weaker than she normally was.

So with no other word, she started eating.

"Good." said Yohmei with a smile. _It's not much but she has made progress ! At least we've come to terms of understanding...!_

For these past seven days, Nicole was made do all kinds of exercises she didn't really need. _'It's to strengthen the soul.' _Anna had told her, without giving any more explanations. They even took her shopping, since her clothes were turned into rags. Everyone was curious though when Nicole mysteriously smiled at seeing that the ochre manly beret they found her with wasn't torn at all. She wouldn't explain herself though. In the end of that day, Nicole appeared in tight black jeans, khaki shoes and a khaki camisole with the image of two golden dragons on the middle. Mysteriously though, she kept holding on to her beret and the ochre fingerless gloves she refused to get off her hands...

_That girl is a mystery... __But __I suppose we're safe, as long as her secrets don't get in the way of defeating Hao..._

"Don't you have anything spicier ?"

"Uhm, well, if you'd like, I could make something for you...!" replied Tamra nervously, avoiding Nicole's callous look. Nicole eyed the girl with arched eyebrows. _Why is she so hasty to help me ? This is so stupid..._

Nicole shook her head. "You don't need to." Tamra backed off a little as Nicole turned to her plate with thoughtful eyes. _This could be Dimi if she had emotions... What is she doing I wonder...?_

"Worried about your friend ?" she heard Yohmei's elderly voice and then Kino adding, "I can see you miss her very much."

The girl looked up at both of them and then back to her meal. She hadn't thought about it but... did she really miss Dimitra ? Maybe it was because it was the first time they were separated... It worried her... After all, her friend wasn't known for her strength... _Wait ! That's right !_

"Hey ! Is it necessary to find Dimi to beat this Hao guy ?" she asked out of the blue, jolting up so abruptly that everyone gasped. "I mean, she can't do anything ! Absolutely nothing ! She's too... fragile for things like that !"

"This doesn't mean anything. The Prophecy talks about both of you." replied Yohmei, not taking no for an answer. Nicole clinched her teeth but silenced whatsoever...

"Hah ! Seems l lost the bet !" exclaimed Len all of a sudden, who was standing in his corner in his usual pose. "You win, Lyserg." Nicole watched as he gave money to a blushing but smiling Lyserg.

"What was the bet ?" she snarled and Len shrugged his shoulders, like saying 'Simply ignore her'.

"I said that you would never actually care for anyone but Lyserg here claimed the opposite. And I see he was right." he said in an irritating tone that added fuel to her hate for him. She turned towards the green-haired English boy and glared so hard, she wished he'd drop dead. It wasn't that he was betting on her... _How dare he make the assumption that I am a caring person ? _

"Now, now, Nicole ! There's something important we must talk about !"

Nicole gasped and whirled around, just to see Mikihisa upside down. He raised his hand. "Yo !"

"Karapizza !"

"It's _Mikihisa, _actually."

"Bad habit." she said with a grin, swaying her neck. "That's how I call the old hag of the orphanage."

"Wow, dude, you live in an orphanage ?" asked Trey enthusiastically but stopped in his tracks at Nicole's deathshot glare.

"A, do I see like a filthy _dude _to you ? And B, don't ask anything else or I'll kill you on the spot, brainfreeze !"

Trey blinked comically but then grinned widely. "Bring it on ! You cannot hurt me without a guardian spirit !" he laughed and his own spirit ally, Corey, made a cute sound. Nicole glared at both of them : she had seen Corey's ice abilities during those last seven days and she couldn't help but admit... she'd be way stronger if she had powers like those...

"That's precisely what I wanted to tell you about !" Mikihisa cut in, leaping and landing on the floor on his knees. "To be considered a proper shaman, you need a guardian spirit."

"And fast." added Anna. "The Shaman Tournament's just around the corner."

Everyone in the room stood silent... Because they were alarmed by the reminder...? Or simply because they had nothing to say ? What aggravated the girl though was that she was standing in the middle of this people-full room and everyone was more-or-less staring at her !

"Tell me what to do then !" she bursted out, making them jolt. "Why are you looking at me like this ? Do I seem like knowing what to do with this guardian something thing ?" She crossed her arms with a pout. "And why do I need it anyway ? This guardian..." she yawned, "...what did you call it again ?"

"Guardian spirit, Nicole, and you really need one." Kino said seriously.

"Why don't you take this seriously ?" scolded Yohmei. Nicole scrunched her nose up in irritation but was taken aback when a hand patted her shoulder. She looked up with wide eyes to see Mikihisa.

"Now, Father, she's just thirteen, she's unable to see things the way we do."

"Keep your fucking hand off of me !" she growled and pushed his hand away. "And for your information, I've been an adult seven years now ! _And, _I'll be fourteen in a few weeks !"

Mickey's dark eyes looked down at her eerily. "Nice girls shouldn't use such foul language."

"Whatever, jerk." she groaned. "Now, since you creeps won't leave me alone, why don't you drop any ideas ?" They all simply stared and she rolled her eyes in frustration. "About my possible spirit ally !"

Everyone tried to think, while Nicole patted her foot in impatience... when suddenly Yoh came in with a phone in his hands.

"Grandpa, they're asking for you." Yohmei mouthed 'who ?' and Yoh replied "The mayor."

Yohmei took the phone with an exasperated sigh and while he was talking, Nicole arched an eyebrow. "Hey, male-brain." she did to Yoh. "You said 'the mayor' ?"

"Uh-huh, the mayor of Izumo !"

"The Asakura are a well-known clan of shamans !" said Morty, who stood beside them. "Thus many politicians and stars of the like come to them for advice and divinations ! How to use their fortune and so on."

"Okaaay..." was the only thing she could say. _This world is so much different than ours... Shamanism ? Divinations, spirits ? Everyone makes such a big fuss over these stuff._

The hanging-up _beep _of the phone snapped her out of her thoughts. Yohmei left out a sigh and adressed his wife. "_Her _again."

"They want someone to shoo her again ?" asked Kino with a sigh of her own. Her husband nodded in disatisfaction.

"Who's _her _?" Morty inquired, his eyebrows furrowed nervously. Nicole couldn't care less, so she just inhaled a sharp, impatient breath and closed her eyes.

The two elders, Yohmei actually, took a good, stern but weary look at them. They weren't sure whether it was necessary for them to know... _but oh well._ "For months now, the town council has been asking us to get rid of a travelling spirit who has apparently found sanctuary in the cemetery of Izumo."

"You don't mean...?" did Anna apathetically.

"Yes." He nodded. "Lorelai, the Fairy of Death."

Nicole cracked an eye open. _Of Death...? _"Who's that ?" she asked with sudden interest. Everyone was a bit shocked at this. Nevertheless, Yohmei answered, "I don't know much about her. Kino may as well tell you her tale."

All eyes turned to the woman, who took a shallow breath before parting her lips to speak.

"She was the princess of the Land of Spring..."

_**Something ugly this way comes, through my fingers sliding inside**_

_**All these blessings, all these burns**_

_**I'm godless underneath your cover...**_

_"Gracious and full of charm, she was praised of her beauty through the nation. The King and Queen were proud of their daughter, the blooming jewel on the royal crown. She was kind and loving, intelligent and wise and in addition to this, a skillful swordfighter... the ideal one destined to become Lorelai, Queen of the wondrous Land of Spring... And as such, she was devoted to her people. But also to someone else..."_

_**Search for pleasure, search for pain in this world**_

_**Now I am undying**_

_**I unfurl my flag, my nation helpless...**_

_"A man came in her life... A handsome but overall noble young man. And his name... was Gabriel, the __P__rince of the Land of Glory. The two fell instantly in love and were eagerly looking forward to their wedding day... but the wedding dress was to rot in a corner forever, for, the day before the big day, something changed."_

_**Black, black heart**_

_**Why would you offer more ?**_

_**Why would you make it easier on me to satisfy ?**_

_"Some say Lorelai couldn't stand the pressuring of suddenly losing her independence as a married woman. The legend that survived until our time is that the Princess wanted to kill the Prince and rule both kingdoms on her own... Losing her heart and mind to unsateable bloodlust... It only resulted to one thing."_

_**I'm on fire, I'm rotting to the core**_

_**I'm eating all your kings and queens, **_

_**all your sex and your diamonds...**_

_"War."_

_**As I begin to lose my grip, on these realities you're sending**_

_**Taste your mind and taste your sex**_

_**I'm naked underneath your cover**_

_"War broke out between the two kingdoms and the one to blame for this chaos was her, the Princess of the Land of Spring. Her once beautiful face was now full with scars of hate, her delicate body replaced its gowns with blood-stained armors and her kind, innocent soul became as cruel and ruthless as a greedy king's heart. Her battle screams echoed in the battlefield, a desert that would soon be full of blood and corpses... But she... didn't care anymore. All she wanted was to kill the person she had once fooled into a game of love... The man who was now looking at her right at the opposite side, there, in disgust of the monster his beloved angel had become..."_

_**Covers lie and we will bend and borrow with the coming sign**_

_**The tide will take, the sea will rise and the time will rape...**_

_"Their weapons clashed together viciously. They fought and fought... but Gabriel couldn't bear kill her. He tried to talk to her, he tried to show her the right way... but he was already exhausted and unable to lift his word... She on the other hand was still standing and actually laughing through her lust for blood ! He fell down... and he would never stand up again. Lorelai killed him right there, in cold blood, without realizing her crime or recognizing her love in the face of the young prince..."_

_**Black, black heart**_

_**Why would you offer more ?**_

_**Why would you make it easier on me to satisfy ?**_

_"The legend then says that Lorelai died soon after. It was because the darkness in her heart had grown and spread so much, that it consumed her existence entirely... She couldn't take it anymore, so she gave up on being the Princess of her Land... or even existing. She lost her life, being nothing but a corpse... but when she rose up again, she was a spirit, a spirit made of death and chaos..."_

_**I'm on fire, I'm rotting to the core**_

_**I'm eating all your kings and queens, **_

_**all your sex and your diamonds...**_

_"As her punishment, she would have to wander the Earth for eternity, unable to find peace, taking the lives of people away... Fearing her, the people named her the Fairy of Death..."_

Silence dominated everything... Everyone was speechless after hearing that gruesome tale...

"Amazing !"

Everyone, except for the bedazzled Nicole, totally captivated by what they've just heard. They all gawked in shock. "Are you serious dude ?" cried Trey, his eyes white and angry.

"This Lorelai, she is the spirit I could imagine working with !" she continued, after she had Trey grovelling on the floor with a bleeding nose. "From what I heard, she's smart and powerful, and, she hates men ! What could be better than this ?"

"Nicole ! She's the Fairy of Death ! After all, you heard it yourself ! She suddenly became a lunatic and wreaked havoc !" cried Tamra with worry. Nicole eyed her incredulously. _Does she even __**care **__?_

"It's okay, let her go and try her luck." intervened Anna, to everyone mouth-dropping shock. The girl crossed her arms smugly. "I would love to see the results of your efforts !"

"What ? You don't believe I can do it ?" snapped Nicole.

"Nope, the exact opposite." said the other. "I'm _sure _you can do it. And that's why I'm looking forward to training you and this Lorelai."

The girl's eyes widened to a ridiculous degree. What was that she was hearing ? _She believes in me ? Gimme a break ! _

"Anna..." did Yoh helplessly and Morty next to him added nervously, "Don't rush things...!" but Anna gave both a cold glare that went with the wonderful accessory,

"Don't tell me what to do, shrimp."

Nicole gaped at the scene of both boys crying comically in a corner, next to a beat up Trey, who was being scoffed at by an ever-arrogant Len. She felt she was going to faint. _Those guys' stupidity is contagious... I should be getting my butt outta here soon._

Mickey's muffled by the mask voice drew her out of her thinking. "Nicole. Are you sure you want to do this ? We can think of other spirits for you."

"_Che_ ! I don't believe in those legend shit." she replied, her cold tone so much contrasting to the flames of her ferocious eyes. "In addition to this, every woman has a reason to go on a men-killing rampage." She glared back at Rio's curious look. "And _I _have my own reasons !"

"Oh my cruel Shaman Queen ! Why won't you open your heart ?"

"Never to the likes of you !" she snarled, stomping on his head because he was clinging on her other leg. "And cut it with the Shaman Queen crap ! You're making me nauseous !"

"I thought you agreed you would lower your anger a little bit." Nicole glared at Lyserg with furious eyes. How _dare _he interfere with her life ! And not just him ; all of them. She didn't need them. They were right at the protect-yourself-and-get-strong part but she didn't need their help at finding Dimitra nor did she care about saving their world from this stupid Haio or whatever they called him.

"Who talked to you, green idiot ?" she seethed through clinched teeth. Lyserg only frowned, clenching his jaw up but refusing to answer. Nicole's prominent glare lingered on him before she turned away with a "Tsk !" _I won't waste my time __on__ kids who can't even talk back !_

"Now, will you be kind enough to tell me where I'll find her ?" she asked the three Asakura sarcastically.

"It might be dangerous..." said Yohmei quietly.

"Yeah, right." she scoffed but smirked. "Besides, I don't think she's as much of a threat as you cowards think !" She gave them her look of determined passion... it was more than enough for Yohmei and Kino to understand that there was nothing they could do to lower their new apprentice's determination.

"Hm. I'll tell you where she is then." Kino said, to everyone's disdain. Nicole smirked.

_The show's on !_

_Night fell over the Izumo cemetery grounds..._

A long, gracious figure stood on the hill... A woman, clad in a red armor with golden intricate details... A golden crown with a cyrcular insignia, the same as on her gloves, sat on her head... But on her midriff, where the armor should be steadier, a hole existed, as if having been pierced through by a sword... Her long golden hair, half of them tied to a bun, where flowing before her bright jade eyes... A single tear ran down the smooth skin of her cheeks with the passing of the nightly breeze...

_It's been centuries now... and she's not here either..._

The young woman, around her twenties, glanced around at the landscape spreading out before her eyes. Beyond the city lights of the relatively small town and the monuments for the dead, there was the beauty of this land. The stars, for example, shining bright above this quiet cemetery, despite the artificial lights in the distance... Still, that beauty could not heal that scar on her armor... nor the wounds of the past...

Suddenly, footsteps echoed from behind her, from the path leading to that hill. _Someone's coming ! _She caught the hilt of her sword and turning around, she drew it out.

"So you're Lorelai..."

The woman was stunned at the sight of a young girl with long brown curls and an ochre beret coming up the hill with clenched fists. _A girl...? _

The said girl looked up at her with a crafty smirk. "...aren't you ?"

_I can sense it... _The woman's eyes narrowed upon the stranger carefully. _I can sense an amount of furyoku emanating from that girl..._

"What's a mere kid like you doing here ? What more, seeking business with the Fairy of Death." snapped Lorelai, seathing her sword back in its case and preparing to leave.

"Won't you ask who I am ?"

"Would that make any difference ?" recoiled the woman, glaring at her sideways. "I don't know you. That's a fact. And I don't care to know you. That's a fact too."

"I like your style !" smirked the girl and crossed her arms. Lorelai's frown hardened. "Since you're not asking, I'll tell you myself : name's Nicole."

"Right. I don't care." With that, the Death Fairy was about to step away when Nicole's voice shred the peace of the cemetery...

"What really happened back then ?"

The woman's steps stopped in middair. Nicole smirked at her own self. _First push ; done. _"I've been told about you, Lorelai. Your story and all." she continued and approached her. "And I don't believe _any _of it."

"You..."

Nicole blinked and widened her eyes in astonishment at the restrained growl...

"DON'T MEDDLE WITH MY LIFE !" cried the spirit and unseathed and swinged her sword back to slash Nicole. However, the latter managed to leap back a few inches of safety. She took a good look at the ghost. Her eyes were widened in a mixture of emotions she could not make out from one another... It confused her... and alarmed her at the same time. "WHAT THEY TOLD YOU WAS THE TRUTH ! I KILLED MY OWN PEOPLE ! I KILLED THAT PERSON !"

However, the girl wouldn't budge. _No. She doesn't have the eyes of a murderer. _"Is the legend of Lorelai, the Princess of the Land of Spring true then ?" she asked in cold cynicism. Lorelai started trembling, her teeth clenching together and her eyes widening all the more Nicole talked. "You really snapped and killed that jerk ?"

"Don't call me that...!" she snarled at her, barely holding herself back from attacking her. "I'm not a Princess anymore. I'm not the Princess of anything... I'M NOT THAT NAIVE FOOL ANYMORE !"

Lorelai lunged forth, swinging her sword at her but Nicole dodged with an agility and tactics unlike what the spirit had seen through her centuries of existence. She raised her sword and landed it down, but the girl easily leaped away. All the way wearing this taunting smirk...

"I KILLED HIM ! WITH THIS SWORD, I PIERCED THROUGH HIS HEART AND MURDERED HIM !" Lorelai cried while slashing the wind. Nicole ducked backwards and jumped away on her hands, then assumed her fighting stance. That's when her smirk grew even more cunning... _For a spirit, she's panting too heavily. She's either too tired or too upset ! _The Death Fairy raised her sword up, pointing at her, with a trembling hand. "Give up, shaman ! You'll feel the wrath of my blade !"

Nicole's eyes widened. _She knows I'm a shaman ? _But before she could ask her, Lorelai launched an attack she DEFINITELY hadn't expected - thorn vines burst out of the sword and charged at her !

"What the Hell ?" She jumped back a few steps and thought of kicking the vines away... but then she remembered her fight with Lyserg. _Fuck ! Not again ! _She barely dodged a thorn vine crossing her right beside the head and then one right over her, but then felt warm liquid staining her clothes... "What ?" she did as she fell back, and looked at her sides. Her new camisole was cut and stained with blood...

"Are you done messing around like a fool ?" Lorelai shouted, her voice barely making it past her panting. To her dismay and anger though, Nicole simply stood up, as if nothing had happened.

"How do you know I'm a shaman ?" Nicole shouted back. The Fairy's eyes widened in confusion for a brief second but then frowned again, a sweatdrop down her temple.

"Isn't it obvious ? You reek of furyoku, girl !"

"I do ?" asked the other with a scrunched-up in disgust nose. "Eww, that's why I never wanted to get into this shaman stuff !"

_Who...Who is this girl ? _"Who are you ?" mused Lorelai, now lowering her sword from exhaustion.

"I've already told you !" Nicole rolled her eyes. "Nicole !"

"What do you want with me ? Absorb me or anything ?"

"Absorb you ?" she did in confusion and frustration thrown in a mix. "No ! I don't even understand what you mean !"

_Then she's not like him...! _

Both stood opposite of each other, a distance of five metres dividing them. Sweat trickled on both's face, as they both scowled at each other, in silent anticipation of the other's next move... However, Lorelai flinched for no particular reason when Nicole suddenly sighed... just to relax her fighting stance.

"Lorelai, just tell me." she sighed and then turned serious. "What really happened ?"

"What they told you ! Shut up and believe it !" cried Lorelai, fighting to keep her hand clenched around her sword's grip.

Nicole glared at her intensely for a few silent moments before blurting, "What would you do if you saw a man ?"

The Fairy of Death arched an eyebrow, lips aghast in surprise from this sudden, completely random question. "I'd ask him if he's hurt any girl in his life ; if he has, then I'd kill him so torturingly, he'd remember me in the afterlife."

"_All_ men have hurt a girl." growled Nicole, her eyes narrowing, flames of unstoppable rage burning within. "Those who haven't done it will surely do it some time in the future."

Now Lorelai was speechless... looking at the girl before her in disbelief... and curiosity... What had happened to her to make her look that... loathful ?

"I'll ask again ; what happened ?" Lorelai's lips parted when the girl's eyes suddenly looked remorseful. "If you tell me the truth, I'll share with you _my _story."

She snapped out of her previous thoughts for that girl ; now her hands were trembling in anger again. "I don't need your sympathy..." she seethed.

"It's not sympathy."

The spirit's eyes widened at the truthful words...

"It's words from someone who understands you."

...And soon welled with scorching tears...

Moonlight shone over the cemetery... Its pale glimmers illuminated the tombstones, cast shadows on the grass, brought monsters out of their hiding crypts... or in some cases, brought the truth out of its darkest pits... Two forms sat on the edge of the small hill... The bare branches of naked cherry trees swayed over them with the blow of a soft breeze...

"So that's what happened to you... How old are you ?"

"Almost fourteen. You ?"

"I've lost the count..."

"When you died I mean."

"Twenty one... It must had been a big burden."

"Nah. You get over it eventually."

"Some part of you never does." Lorelai looked into Nicole's eyes. "The scars always remain."

Awkward silence spread over the two of them... The Fairy of Death's eyes were locked on the grassy ground, observing each and every droplet of moisture slipping down the leaves of the flowers of Fall... Nicole's were fixed on the vast, black sky and its countless white dots, the stars decorating its endless black.

_If I wished on a star like that now, would I find Dimitra and go back ? Or it wouldn't be the same ?_

"So, Lorelai."

The said woman's nonexistent heart stopped beating. She looked at her side sadly, with eyebrows furrowed in sorrow.

"What's your story then ?"

A lone cricket's song echoed in the distance... The Fairy's emerald eyes lowered to the ground, lost to a place she could only see...

"We were in love..." She exhaled a small breath. "...me and Gabriel. We were ready to get married... I remember how beautiful my wedding dress was...!" A smile played at her lips, fading with her next words. "But on the night before our wedding day, I heard him and his soldiers planning to kill me and take my throne... It was the Land of Glory after all..." she chuckled bitterly. Nicole fought to retain a tough expression throughout the narration... She understood her so very well... "Our armies fought on the day I thought would be my special day...! My trusted general lost his life... and I learned Gabriel had killed my parents... He kicked me on the ground but before he stabbed me I...I..."

The young girl's frown twitched... She was at a loss for actions. There was nothing she could do to ease the pain of that deceived woman, shedding solemn tears beside her, and she knew it better than anyone... Being unable to help her, being unable to console somebody who truly needed it... It made her no better than _her... _

"I... lifted my sword up...!" Lorelai managed to finish, her voice drown in tears. Nicole shut her eyes slowly. "We both died there... but days later, I was found by a demon. She told me I could ease my sorrow in the misery of the people I'd help get to the other side. She followed this with the words 'this is my gift and my curse'. I soon saw what she meant..." She raised her head up to gaze into the midnight colour of the sky. "Being unable to find peace... Always tortured by the ghosts of the unforgiving past... Years passed... And I had to watch the truth being corrupted every day... This is the worst thing she could do to me..."

"Lorelai..." Nicole did, trying to say something, but stopped when, with a faint smirk, the Death Fairy continued.

"Ever since, I've been wandering the world to find her. She was dressed in Japanese clothing, so my travels brought me here, where I could trace her and plead her to undo her curse... but as you can see, no progress so far." she added in a self-sarcastic tone and closed her eyes. A soft sigh escaped her. "Hahaha...It feels so great to be finally able to talk to someone about this... You're the first person I've ever trusted !"

Nicole blinked in astonishment ; her voice and appearance had turned so much sweeter now...!

"About what you said back there." said the spirit seriously, a frown on her face.

"Which of all ?"

"About men." Her eyebrows furrowed in remorse. "Not all men are like that. I'd like to believe that... there are men out there who are worthy."

"Lorelai, poor sweet Lorelai !" did Nicole with a smile and an ironic roll of her eyes. "It's the law of their nature ! Act like pigs ! It's just who they are !" She silenced, just enough to think. "See that Hio or whatever whom those bullshitters I've told you about want me to defeat ! He's such a pain in the ass, reincarnating and putting me and my friend in the bother of killing him !"

Lorelai's eyes went wide to a ridiculous level. "You don't mean... Asakura Hao ?"

"Uh... yes ?"

"Asakura Hao the Destroyer ?" she asked once more, even more alarmed - she was trembling and soaked in sweat again.

"Wow, nice nickname !"

"You don't understand who he is, do you ?" Lorelai said, smirking despite the fear showing in her face. "He and his guardian spirit eat other spirits to increase furyoku !"

"Eww..."

Lorelai ran a hand through her hair, biting her lip at the memory that reflected in her green eyes... Fire...everywhere... surrounding her... "I was almost eaten by his little beasty once too. It was a close shave, but I managed to escape. I think he still wants to get back at me for all the humiliation his blustery ego got."

Nicole was speechless. _Then... he must be as fearsome and powerful as they say..._

"Your friend !" the spirit said suddenly, as if just remembering something important. "Where is she ? Can I meet her too ?"

"I'm afraid that...no." she said with a serious but wandering frown. "When that airheaded star got us here, we were separated. So now we're apart and I must find her and go back to our world."

"But you said it was awful there... Why would you want to go back ?" the other asked in disappoinment.

_Reminds me of pointy head. _"Because that's where I belong. That's where I grew up and that's where I must stay, whether I like it or not."

"That's a foolish notion." Lorelai remarked with a shake of her head. "Will you be alright ? With the scars of sorrow, I mean."

"I'm a scar museum !" she exclaimed with a grin that the Death Fairy didn't grasp. Regardless, she smiled faintly.

"That's good. But as I told you, the scars always remain." she said and touched the hole in her chest ; the place where Gabriel's blade stabbed her. "This is proof for that."

"Speaking of scars," Nicole said in a relaxed tone and raised her shirt enough to see her wound. "that attack back there cut on one of my own. Look at all this blood !" Lorelai did look at the blood and her eyes widened comically at what she was seeing. Her abdomen was full of cuts and the like. "Oh well, it'll stop eventually." she groaned and put it back down.

"Sorry for that." smiled the Death Fairy but the girl smiled as if to say 'it's alright'.

"Those attacks... are they your power as a spirit ?"

"Uh-huh !" said Lorelai with a nod. "And I will teach you everything, Mistress Nicole."

_DANG !_

Nicole's head turned around slowly, like the head of a broken robot. Her monstrously widened eyes made Lorelai shiver comically. "Wh-Wh-What's wrong ?"

"Mistress...Nicole ? Teach you...? Then that means you'll be my spirit ally !" cried the girl and Lorelai flashed her a sweet smile.

"Of course. After all, I like your style !"

The Death Fairy held out her hand, as for a handshake. Nicole accepted it with a confident smirk.

"Okay, let's go, partner !"

But a few steps later...

"And don't call me 'Mistress Nicole' !"

_Guys ! Oh gosh, it just hit me ! The title is incorrect ! O.O 'Another' is 'one more', whereas the title that fits is 'an other', 'a different one' ! Oh boy... TT_TT I can't change it so suddenly ! This title has been with me and Nicky-chan and you guys for so long ! It can't change like that, right ? No, it won't ! -throws fist to the air- Simply keep in mind that the meaning I was aiming for when I imagined the title when I was eleven was 'an other' ! ^^" _

_Linky here ! :3_

_-EleganXD_


	4. When Glass Is Breaking

_**The Gift From Another World**_

_**When Glass Is Breaking**_

_Fourth chapter ! ^w^ The Heaven of all HaoxDimi fans ! Those who have read the original must already know what I mean... w Enjoy ! (__By the way, I dunno what's wrong with but it wrecks the story by erasing the lines that separate each part. If anybody knows how to undo this, please help me. Thank you. :3 )_

Three silent moments and then-

"YOU DID WHAT ?"

"I proved that the legend was rubbish. I just explained it to you." scoffed Nicole arrogantly, her arms crossed on her chest as she glared at their dumbfounded faces... for she had entered the room with her spirit ally. Problem was, they all knew of Lorelai as a cruel, bloodthirsty killer of the past - how'd you react if a person like that marched in your house ? Something like that.

"It's okay, Nicole." said an extremely calm and polite Lorelai. "It's natural they're doubtful."

"Th-Then... you weren't the one at fault for the war ?" asked Tamra shyly and the spirit nodded with eyes closed upwards blissfully.

"I feel kinda bad, Lorelai..." Morty said with sad half-closed eyes. "We all believed the opposite of what really happened... It must had been awful for you."

She blinked and her lips parted but then formed a smile. She kneeled in front of him and pat his head. "It's alright, little guy ! It's not your fault that you believed it, after all, you were made to !" Morty smiled whereas Nicole next to them sneered.

"She's the Fairy of Death !" Len interrupted from his usual corner and Bason, his guardian spirit, appeared next to him. "How can you trust a being like that ?"

"She didn't choose to become one, Len..." said Lyserg remorsefully, to Nicole's obvious disdain. He turned and looked at the spirit seriously. "But still, it is quite soon to trust you like this. Sorry..."

Lorelai smiled a bitter but sweet smile. "This is a common misconception. Everyone believes Death Fairies take the lives of people away but that's not true. They _can _kill-" she added, sending shivers down their spines. "-but that would just add to their work. And no one wants to work overtime, right ?" she giggled. Everyone's eyes went blank but only Joco was laughing like an idiot. After Len pierced his nose with his kwan-dao, the Death Fairy continued. "What they do is help the souls of humans pass to the other side. Whether that is Hell or Heaven, they don't care. They just purge this world from earthbound souls."

"Then what you guys do is good after all..." said Trey in surprise and grinned. "Cool !"

"Yeah, don't worry, guys !" smiled Yoh to the dubious duo. "It's like me and Amidamaru !"

"Who talked to you ?" growled Nicole and Yoh sweatdropped with a silly smile. "Speaking of that jerk," she said and pointed to a direction. "go and pick him up. You too, pointy head." They looked to the direction she was pointing at... only to have their jaws drop to the floor ! Amidamaru and Bason were gawking at Lorelai with googly, heart-shaped eyes. "Their drool has almost flooded this place."

"BASON !"

"Hehe, Amidamaru, you found a soulmate ?" laughed Yoh and Len shouted with white demon-eyes, "IT'S NOT FUNNY !"

"Well." Anna, ignoring the scene, turned to an exasperated Nicole with a smirk. "You're all set to go find Dimitra and beat Hao's butt. Lorelai is a skilled spirit."

"I can leave ? Yes !" she did and clenched her fist triumphantly. "At last I can leave this insane asylum !" Everyone sweatdropped as flames sprouted around her and she started laughing manically, like a demon.

"Ummm...no."

The flames were extinguished at once and the girl snapped her head around. "_No _? What do you mean by _no_ ?" she snarled at Mikihisa.

"There's a problem. And you know very well what it is." said Yohmei calmly.

"Problem ? There's no problem, everything's fine !" she said and her eyes gleamed like an insane's.

"Eeer, guys, I wasn't trained as a psychiatrist but I can be one if you'd like..." commented Faust.

"What is it ?" growled an impatient Nicole, patting her foot.

"We need to find Dimitra, you know." answered Mikihisa slowly.

"Duh ! That's what I'm about to do !"

"Do you know where to find her ?" challenged Kino and Nicole rolled her eyes.

"No, but I'll search !"

"Pointless. Hao will be Shaman King until then."

"I don't give a damn..." she seethed behind clinched teeth. They all watched as her fists clenched together in rage that made its self clear throughout the room... "I don't give a fucking fly about that guy. I never agreed I'd help you loons - all I want is to find my friend and leave this place as fast as I can !"

Lorelai by her side furrowed her eyebrows in worry and was about to speak, when Anna said seriously, "You have no other choice. It's your destiny."

"Ha ! I don't believe in those bullshit !" she growled. "As I said before, I don't compromise with the events and conditions - I'm the one _making _them ! So I'm not going to stay here and rot, just because some kind of psychic force told me to !" She spun around to the door behind her and before anyone could stop her, she disappeared.

They were solemn for as long as her angry stomps echoed through the hallways. When they stopped, Lorelai sighed giving-up-ly and smiled nervously. "I'll try to put some brains in her, don't worry ! I want Hao to be defeated no matter what too."

"Why're you so serious about that ?" asked Len and Rio added warily, "It seems like you and that creep have predescent stuff."

"Yes." she smiled, despite her frown. "Let's just say I was about to be his beasty's dinner."

"Oh."

"This is crazy !" shouted Yohmei. "She and her friend are the ones to stop Hao but- !"

"This is not crazy, Yohmei-san. I mean, DUDE ! _SHE _IS CRAZY !" said Trey, full of anger.

"Nothing happens like this !" Yohmei blurted and smacked his hands on the floor. "If we don't find her friend, she won't agree to any thing we say !"

"And even if we did, the chances of her staying here are fifty-fifty." added Kino, holding her composure.

"The problem is, she doesn't understand what Hao is capable of." Lyserg said, a serious frown all over his face. Lorelai's gaze lingered on him with a slight bit of inexplicable pity... _A sad but loathful feeling comes from that boy... same as Nicole's..._

"Then what should we do ?" asked Rio panicky and Trey closed his eyes, shrugging.

"Let her do what she wants ! She's just going for some serious butt-kicking ! Then she'll come back all weeping and moping, saying how wrong she was !"

"Nicole aside," Faust intervened "seriously, we must find that other girl, Dimitra."

"Both are needed for the Prophecy to be complete..." Yohmei's eyes were fixed on the floor with thoughtful despair...

Silence fell in the room, as they all struggled to find a solution to their problems...

"Jeanne..."

Lyserg's voice tore the soundless moments to shreds. Rio turned towards him. "What about her, Lyserg ?"

"Lady Jeanne should be able to help !" he said and his mood was suddenly uplifted to excitement. "She always knew where Hao was, how to track him down, everything ! Why can't the same happen with other people too ?"

"You've got a point..." Joco did but Len cut in with cynicism filling his words, "That's good but where will we find her ?" Their hopes froze as he continued. "She and Marco disappeared after the Shaman Fight ended, without telling anyone where they went or why. Do you think it'll be that easy to track her down or you've already started thinking as naively as Nicole ?"

Before Lyserg could be disappointed, Yoh said with wide eyes, "She was from France..."

"Do you think that's where she could be ?" asked Morty but Rio added, having lost his nerves, "That doesn't mean anything ! We can't go around ringing every doorbell in France !"

"Jeanne is from Le Mont Saint Michael." said Len, approaching the centre of the room where they all stood. Anna eyed him coldly.

"For someone who's fixated on being all serious, you remember every tiny detail about Jeanne." she said and all eyes turned to Len, who was blushing and screamed out, "_Bagana !"_

"Banana !"

"ENOUGH WITH THIS JOKE ALREADY !"

_They're all such good people... I want to believe that... Nicole knows this deep down._

Beyond all that commosion, the emerald eyes of a spirit lingered on them... and a soft smile rose on Lorelai's lips.

_Somewhere else..._

It was like a nightmare come to life. These clothes...

Hao's words kept echoing in my mind. _"I'll tell Hanagumi to give you new ones, they must have something !" _Still, _these _clothes weren't what I was expecting. A white top which let my entire abdomen show, a short white skirt, black ankle-boots and oversized white socks... too revealing for my taste. The three girls, the Hanagumi, weren't good either. They took my clothes, my important black cardigan, and tossed them into a box with other clothes... and I was unsure whether I should ask for my jacket or not... I kept fidgeting and trying to pull the top down, only to find that it was futile. _I feel so exposed ! It's- It's...! Why did they give me these clothes in the first place...? I shouldn't be given anything, I shouldn't be shown kindness, I..._

Those amber eyes flashed through my memories... _"Is it so wrong helping people ?"_

I sighed giving-up-ly and glanced around with sorrowful half-closed eyes. That thing surrounding us, called a 'forest'... it was so quiet. Everyone had gone off somewhere... I saw their shadows disappearing into the darkness during dawn. Naturally, I hadn't slept all night. The fire was too... remarkable to let go so simply... and additionally... the landscape before me was too intriguing for me to turn away from... All those tall things called trees... with their various branches and vivid green treeleaves... They looked much more gigantic than the huge scyscrapers I was used to... And the sky above them... a soft but tense light blue, decorated not with grey rainclouds but small white clouds that took weird shapes...

But the most wondrous of all was this white disk up above... this warm cyrcle that shed its light everywhere... the sun...

Sitting there in the small clearing where many thin matresses called 'futon' lay, I looked up, desperately trying to see that wonder. Dense leaves got in my way. No matter what, I tried to just get a glimpse at it or at least, feel its warmth... see if it could do something for me... for that unstoppable cold... Sunrays hit my face. My eyes ached from their brilliance - the raindrops I was used to were nothing compared to this. Still, it felt nice... not warm enough to shake away that cold feeling, but still... strange and soothing... A little fake smile played on my lips. _If only Nicole was here to enjoy this with me..._

My face fell. _Nicole... Where could she be now...?_

I closed my eyes sadly and stood up, leaving my usual curled-up position. _Everyone's left... but I have nothing to do here either... Could they have just abandoned me here...? _The few memories I had of _him _passed through my mind again. I frowned a little, shaking them away. _No matter what he says... no matter what he did yesternight... _I recalled it all and my right cheek was scorched by invisible flames. _...I can't trust him so simply... not him, not anyone... _I glanced around a little. Trees wherever the eye could meet. It was... _confusing... There are no alleys, no streets... how can anyone find their way here ?_ Anyway, I started going south... _wherever south is... _

There was no darkness...for this bright thing named 'sun' hovered above me... There was no cement... for this pointy green floor called 'grass' was beneath my feet... And there was absolutely no such thing as rain... for the 'blue sky' dominated everything... This strange new place... made my heart sink into the darkest depths of my soul... Even as I stumbled on across the woods, going somewhere I didn't know... I felt more like walking in this dark place I saw yesterday... that dark place with the wall of glass. For there was no place for me here... all this happiness... was not what I was used to... _Nicole was right... Perhaps that wish was no good after all... And certainly not these clothes. _

I walked on, finding no opening to a wide area... until I saw an opening of light and walked forth... for my breath to hitch in my chest at the sight before me.

A vast meadow... full of colorful things I'd seen before... in a dream ? Things with petals, blowing with the soft breeze...

The world around me went blurry... something burned in my eyes... tears...

_What...?_

"You don't seem very happy."

Suddenly, that voice echoed in my ear... I'd recognise that voice anywhere... a warm voice that sent chills down my spine... I turned to look at him, even though I didn't want to... He was standing behind me, his warmth so close to me... I didn't want him to be so close... not when it meant that his suffocating warmth would engulf me in flames. Still, I could see it in those eyes that pierced through my soul as they looked back at mine. _He_ could tell me...

"What are these...?" I uttered weakly.

"You really don't know ?" he asked in slight surprise but smiled softly. "They're flowers !"

I could feel my eyes widening, my heart stopping its slow beat... I turned back to that endless meadow... full of these small miracles...

_So these are... flowers..._

I closed my eyes and brought my hands to my arms, like a futile shield towards this world. I didn't want it anymore... it felt awful... _I can feel it...! All those strange things happening within me...! It's like... like my heart is about to break ! As if it's gone heavier somehow ! It's unbearable..._

"Why are you getting so worked up ?" I heard his voice. I felt the warmth of his gloved hands on my shoulders and then my legs could keep me up no longer. He forced me down on my knees and as I inhaled a deep breath, all I could feel was heat, heat that smothered me from inside. The breeze was blowing and I could sense him, his amber eyes locked on me... I knew because of this feeling... this feeling of them penetrating my heart... _Don't. Don't come this close to me... I..._

"That's no good, you know. I feel a little close to you already." I opened my eyes to see him sitting right in front of me... "And, you're blushing." he pointed out, looking at me still with a smile plastered on his face.

I blinked in confusion at the word 'blushing' but before I could ask what it meant, I felt that odd burn all over my face. "I...I..." I closed my eyes again, wishing he'd go away. It was akward being with him. It was like flames embracing me whenever I was with him. Smothering flames... "Please just..."

I opened my eyes at the feeling of his finger shutting my lips softly. I looked at him, afraid, while he smiled at me with his gentle smile that made me once again feel so insignificant in front of him. "There's no need for you to do like this. No one here wants to hurt you." His words echoed strangely in my head, his eyes pierced threateningly through my soul, his warmth melted my heart... What was happening was completely new... and something else I could not define. I was always shaking by the cold and my weakness... but now I was shaking by this something too... I just wanted to pass out and never wake up.

"You're shaking too much. Is this surely alright ?" He placed his hand on_ my _hand, tightly clutched around my arm... He didn't do a thing but I somehow felt obliged to let go... _No, no, don't, don't do it...! _I thought but eventually let my hands fall on my lap. He smiled at me a hearty smile. "See ? I didn't do anything to hurt you. Right ?"

I looked at him... _horrified. _Yes, that was the word I was searching for this new something... Horror, _fear_... He didn't say a thing, yet his presence was enough to cause this to me...

Suddenly, a loud childish voice cut the silence.

"Lord Hao !"

Opacho came running towards us. I noticed she was barefoot. She stopped right next to Hao, who turned his full attention to her. "What is it, Opacho ?"

"Dimitra talk ?" She looked at me, smiling, and I twitched.

"No. Don't pressure her, Opacho."

The girl pouted a little, despite his soft tone. "Okay... but Dimitra talk soon, right ?"

"When she feels comfortable to, she will."

I heard them talk silently. But inside me, I recalled memories deemed forgotten. Memories of fairytales where this kind of conversation, this exchange of sweet voices, was between a child and her father... _A father..._

"I found her when she was a baby and I named her too. So I suppose you could call me that." I heard him say and I looked around to see Opacho had wandered off to the field. She seemed so... happy as she ran through the 'flowers', scattering pink and yellow petals everywhere. So strange... I had never been so carefree as she was now. I was always somewhere on my own, emotionless and... _unable to trust_. I looked sideways at Hao, his relaxed arm on his raised knee again. _But now he wants me to trust him... _How could someone like _me _ever trust someone like _him _?

"It's been about a week. Yet you haven't said a word about you. Rather ungrateful, don't you think ?" His eyes turned to me and I twitched in response. He smiled gently. "Staying with us but showing us so much heartlessness."

I said nothing, only wrapped my hands around me again. Hao closed his eyes calmly.

"Maybe something has happened to you to make you act like this. But whatever the reason, you could at least trust _me_. I want to know more about you..." His eyes looked directly into mine deeply, causing a loud sound in my chest. "..Dimitra."

"...But what if you backstab me ?" I asked weakly.

Hao blinked twice in confusion. "Why would I do that ?"

"Because that's what people do." I curled up, knees against my chest, lowering my gaze. "They use others. They get close to them and then betray them. It's the normal thing to do. I've seen them do it countless times..."

"Them ?" I replied nothing, so he just closed his eyes and said calmly, "I could do that. But I won't." I gave him a frightened look and he added, "I don't have a reason to. Why would I do that to someone like you ?"

_Someone like me... _"You mean someone _weak_... like me..."

"Perhaps." Fire blazed in his eyes cunningly one more time... I clenched my hands tighter at its sight. "But I mostly meant someone that I don't know enough to ever need to betray. Have you given me a reason to do that ?"

I shook my head lightly, though I got nothing of what he said. _He speaks so strangely..._

"You think so ? Why's that ?" he asked with a smile, eyes closed upwards.

"Because..." I tried to say but stopped, lowering my gaze slantly... My lips parted lightly. "Can you... read minds ?"

Now it was his turn to say nothing. Only stare at me with that smile intact on his lips. "What do you think ?" he asked finally.

"I..." _I think that yes..._

"Then yes it is." he said simply and that was proof enough for me... I widened my eyes a bit. _He can...? How ? _"Why should I reply to someone who won't reply to _my _questions ?"

"I told you... I don't _want _to trust you. I _can't _trust you. Not... Not like this..." I lowered my head, a veil of light brown hairstrands falling down my shoulders. "Not like this..." I could feel him staring at me and then his hand on my shoulder. I instinctively turned around halfly. "I can't feel a thing...! I don't know how to trust you, not when I can't even feel what trust is like...! I am..."

"Emotionless ?"

A whimper escaped my lips unwillingly. He could tell me this so simply...?

"Yes." I uttered finally and reluctantly turned towards him. He reached out a hand and I was about to jolt away, but he only placed a loose hairstrand behind my ear.

"I can see that without you telling me. That's why you won't talk much, that's why your smiles aren't real..." He smirked a small cunning smirk. "That's why your eyes are so beautiful..."

I flinched but he clasped both hands on my shoulders, immobilizing me. He then slowly untied my hands from around my arms and laid them down. I was terrified. He was looming in front of me, smirking with _evil. _I thought he'd hurt me, kill me or some sort of that. He stared at me and I held my breath. But then his fingers folded under my chin and there was warmth on my chest, where my little heart pumped slowly and quietly as always. I looked at him as he placed his hand on my chest... and fear settled within me. There was fire surrounding it, but it burned neither me nor him. Still, having him so close made me unable to react and his 'friendly' smirk plastered on his face only made me more afraid. His eyes seemed calm and were half-closed as he looked serenely at the flames sprouting from his hand...

"This heart here contains so many emotions that want to get out... and so many secrets about you I want to know. But there's this wall of glass around them, around _you, _that won't let me see them." He now came closer. I felt his warmth even more. He leaned in to whisper in my ear in a husky voice, "I'm more intrigued than ever, Dimitra. Keep this in mind ; I _can _surpass it and if I have to, I can_ break_ it." I was paralyzed with fear as his voice and words sent chills down my spine. The flames suddenly felt strong and unabling me from breathing... "Hm. I think the glass is already breaking..."

"Lord Hao ! Dimitra !"

We both flinched and turned to see Opacho running to us, a large bunch of flowers in her small hands. Hao backed off as she came and stood beside him. "What is it, Opacho ?"

"I picked flowers for Dimitra but don't know if Dimitra want them." She gave me a hopeful smile and Hao a slant, sly look, whereas I stared at the bunch apathetically. She held them in front of me and smiled wider. "Bouquet."

I blinked. "...Wha...What's that ?"

They both blinked too but Hao smirked. "Flowers gathered together in a nice bunch. Like the ones in front of you."

I turned back to Opacho and back to the 'bouquet'. Lively colours... not the dim ones I've been living with all my life... _So beautiful... _Absently, I was about to touch them but then I remembered it was this little girl giving them to me. I glanced at her reluctantly but she only kept smiling and held them out encouragingly.

"For Dimitra !" she giggled.

"I..." I hesitantly touched them and she let go of them, having me take them. A peculiar scent suddenly spread around... I hugged them softly, taking in their mesmerizing aroma. It made me smile fakely. _They're so beautiful, up close or even from afar... _"Thank you, Opacho."

The girl smiled widely and Hao chuckled beside me. "Dimitra know any games play ? Bored..." she said with a hint of complaint in her voice and I twitched in... 'surprise'. I never expected anyone would ask me something like that... and...

"I don't... I've never played a game..." I said wistfully.

"What ? How anyone lived without game ?" I lowered my gaze... _That's what I mean, Opacho... I've never lived... _She turned to Hao. "Lord Hao ?"

"Hmmm... How about hide and seek ?"

"Yay !" she cheered and clapped her hands but when they saw me, I only stared at them expressionlessly.

"What's that ?"

Opacho's jaw dropped to the floor. "Dimitra _really _don't know games !"

I remained apathetic at this but turned towards Hao, who smirked at me... a cunning smirk of hidden meanings... "Everyone hides and someone, who counts to one hundred, tries to find them. Don't you find it interesting ?" he added and the flames in those amber orbs swiveled craftily. His gaze caused a sweatdrop to trickle down my temple...

"Umm... sounds okay..."

Opacho cheered once again and Hao only chuckled. "Opacho, what do you say I am the seeker the first time ? So that Dimitra learns the game."

"Oh no !" she giggled loudly "No one win when Lord Hao seeker !"

I stared at both of them apathetically... but with the sound of that cute laugh, I couldn't help but let a faint fake smile play on my lips.

"...Where is he...?"

I opened my eyes and looked once again around me at the magical forest. Marvelous and huge, straight from one of those rare fairytale books I used to borrow. Tall trees, sunshine, songs of little sparrows and scents of a forlorn paradise. It seemed I had died... and had come to Heaven.

No one was to be seen. I suddenly felt alone in this vast place and wrapped my hands around me. How was I supposed to function alone here ? The rules of this 'game' are to hide from that seeker person and if you find an opening, run to the place where he or she had counted up to one hundred. A large ancient tree. However... what was I supposed to do if I didn't know if I should go there or not...? I had hid behind a flowery bush. I had instantly regretted it ; my knees hurt like mad. And from where I was, I couldn't see anything. _Should I go to a place where I could easily spot him ? Or should I run towards the tree...? But still... I can't run... or... _

I took a deep breath, realizing that I couldn't do anything else. They had dragged me into this and I had to comply. It was the same with Nicole ; whenever I gave up and complied with her various dangerous activities, I had to compromise and even risk getting hit by a bullet or beaten by some enraged shopkeeper. Same now ; I had no other choice but to follow the rules of the game, like I always did...

I went behind a tree similar to the one Hao had counted in front of. He had called it an 'oak'. Even from there, I couldn't find any of them ; neither Opacho nor _him. _But I supposed he had found her, 'cause I could only hear her giggles and laughs from somewhere nearby. That sound made everything go dark... _I wish I could laugh like that too..._

Suddenly, reality struck me ; they had _forgotten _me. My eyes settled down to the grass sadly, my fingertips sliding down the tree beside me. _Yes... Yes, that's it. I was so foolish as to think that I could trust him, even the slightest bit. The world is just like that, no matter which world exactly... But still... _I looked slowly to the oak, the counting point. If I could only go there, I'd at least win this game, even if no one was around to witness. Why should there be someone in the first place...?

_Here goes...? _I glanced around me as quickly as my easily nauseated head allowed me, hoping to see him searching somewhere far away. But he was nowhere to be found. _Should I risk this...? _I was pretty much visible to anyone who looked, the way my body was balancing in the crevice between going there or staying put. But I couldn't wait any longer, so I fully went out of my hiding place and did the unthinkable ; _ran _towards the tree.

_Wind..? I'm... running ?_

I had no time to think. But no time to lose either. I put every ounce of power my frail and sickly body had to give and kept running... Wind hit my face and for once, all weakness was gone... like its shackles had given place to an angel's wings... and I was free to fly away from the chains that bound me to myself... There was no reason to breathe anymore, no reason to pause and collect a minimum amount of strength... I could do whatever I wanted...!

When I suddenly heard laughter in front of me. And right before I could touch the tree, Hao leaped down a branch, touched the trunk, and said, "I win !"

I hesitantly stopped in front of him, tripping a little as I put the brake on my legs clumsily. Opacho leaped down too, cheering. "Yay ! Lord Hao win ! Lord Hao run fast !" My gaze drifted to the tall tree apathetically, but I couldn't pay any attention to the unfairness of it all. Hao knew this too, since his smirk changed into a curious expression, pointed at me.

"There's a shine in your eyes." he remarked with a soft smile.

"Really ?" I was... 'shocked' ? I blinked and almost automatically let a fake smile curl at my lips. I touched my fingertips on them, still trying to recognise that new feeling... "I ran... I ran...! Can you believe it ?"

"What's weird with run ?" asked Opacho, lips formed to a pout.

"I had never done this before !" I exclaimed. How did I do this all of a sudden ?

However, this 'surprise' was replaced by a sting, right through my chest and I immediately clutched my heart. I parted my lips to breathe but it was like something was blocking my lungs. Everything went blurry as the world spinned around me and I couldn't feel my own body. My heart wasn't beating slowly as it always did, but hammering quickly. I felt I would die right there. Maybe all that... all that new emotion, all this sudden force... Maybe it was too much for my weak body to handle.

"Dimitra, what's wrong ?" I heard Opacho's voice calling but it sounded so distant... I squeezed my eyes shut for a painful moment so that it would all stop. _Why did I push myself that much ? I've been weak my whole life...! What got into me to make me act like that...? Think I wasn't what I'd always been...!_

_"Serves you right ! Little Miss Nothingness !"_

_"She's not like us ! Kill her !"_

_"Why were you even born !"_

My fist fell limp on the ground, my eyes wide as I coughed, like something was choking me from the inside. Warmth blurred my vision, tears that forced my eyes to half-close in pain... but widened again as the pain fled... and a warm hand rested on my shoulder.

I returned back to reality. I was still in the woods with Opacho eyeing with worry and _him_ knelt next to me. _Why...? Why are you here...? Why do you care...?  
_

"You're exhausted. Maybe we should stop for today."

I turned to Hao as if I didn't recognize his face. He hung his head to the side to take a look at my face, serious but intrigued, putting a strand of my hair off my shoulder. Just then did I realize what he had said.

"No... please... there is no meaning in doing so..." I said, finding it pointless to stop for something that wouldn't go anyway. "I'm fine... so let's not make it a big deal... Who is seeker now...?" I looked at both of them with apathetic eyes. I avoided looking at Hao, but he just frowned and then let a small smirk replace it.

"Opacho lost !" squealed Opacho, pouting stubbornly, much to Hao's amusement. "Opacho not wanna be seeker !"

"Rules are rules, Opacho, you can't bypass them like that."

He patted her afro-hair with a chuckle and, smiling in that way that made me twitch, she turned to count.

I sat there staring at her aimlessly, until I decided to get up. But as I turned to go hide, someone stronger than me grabbed me by the wrist. I recognized the touch as _his_ and reluctantly looked at him, while he was dragging me with him away from the tree.

"Let's hide together !" he smiled heartily at me, with his eyes closed upwards.

I couldn't help but smile as all those loathful voices in my head were chased away by a soft and warm one...

"...eighty...eighty-five..."

I looked over my shoulder, locking my hands around myself. "Hao... Shouldn't we be hiding right now...?"

"I'm trying."

I left out a disheartened sigh. _He said we had to find a place that would make it easy for me to reach or get out of... I'm only a hindrance..._

"Don't be stupid."

I sighed again. _No privacy... _He chuckled like last time, but something more important caught my ear.

"...ninety-five..."

Which meant that Opacho's little footsteps and giggles would soon echo throughout the woods... and me and Hao would be stuck there... together... A little sweatdrop went down my forehead as I stared off at the ancient oak's direction...

"ONE-HUNDRED ! OUT !"

Then someone grabbed my arm and pushed me down, among thick bushes.

"Ow-"

"Hush...!"

A moment of total darkness ensued as the sudden movement brought vertigo over me again, but when it cleared and I opened my eyes, I saw Hao smiling gently down at me.

"Was this the best place you could find...?" I asked tonelessly, looking everywhere but his burning amber eyes.

"Yes, I told you it'd be the best." he said, totally relaxed. I widened my eyes slightly, but refrained from looking straight at him. After all, everything about him was so distracting... His arms, forcing me down, his hands balled into tight fists next to me, his long hair tumbled down his back, his tender smile... A smile... I wanted to give him a smile too... but not a fake one... For this... person was far superior to all the bogus little smiles I could give him... _He's too good for that... _It had to be a true smile, but I couldn't give him that... This made me lower my look sadly, anywhere away from his own kind smile...

"You're gloomy again." he whispered. "Why ? Is it something you can tell me ?" I looked at him. I looked at his faded smile and then looked somewhere else. I couldn't stand the thought that someone was so... _interested _in knowing if I was alright... _It's wrong... _

"What was that back there ?" he pressed, tilting his head, enough to get into my line of vision. "You looked like you were dying. Surely you are okay now ?"

I nodded but closed my eyes to prevent him from seeing the forming tears...

"Look at me, Dimitra, look at me." I half-opened my eyes, barely seeing anything through that distorting blur. "You can't let those voices kill you."

I looked at him. My eyes were wide at what I heard. He saw the surprise flitting in my eyes. He smiled again and I felt like... his warmth drove the pain away...

"Ha ! Found you !"

We both turned, completely in shock, to see Opacho smiling at us. Hao got off of me and gave her a serious look. "Beginner's luck. I was just a little distracted." he said and then pat her head, laughing "Congrats, anyway !"

"Wow, first time Opacho wins !" cheered the little girl while I was rising up on my feet. "Dimitra brought luck !"

"I... don't believe in luck." I said, wrapping my arms again. Hao noticed this with a sly look, so I turned to her to avoid him. I smiled fakely. "I didn't do anything. This was completely your achievement..."

"Dimi modest ! Dimi is team's lucky charm !" I blinked at this. _Opacho... called me 'Dimi' ?_

_"Hey, Dimi, let's go to the big skyscraper ! The view is nice from up there !" said cheerfully a little girl with curly brown hair and an oversized khaki beret. _

_"...Nice view ? There's nothing nice in this entire city." said monotonously a smaller girl in a beige overcoat. Her empty brown eyes where locked down as the two girls walked in the grey city's streets._

_"Ow, Dimi ! Why so lame all the time ?" said the other girl._

_"Nicole... um... why don't we just go home ?" uttered the gloomy girl._

_"Home ? Home ! Hahahahah !"_

_Dimi looked at her sadly."What's so funny ?"_

_"What is funny is that you just called this damned orphanage our home !"_

_"I don't know about you but for me, this orphanage is the only place I can go to..."_

_"Ha !" said Nicole, happily looking at the sky. "My 'home' is the dark streets of this wretched city and nowhere else."_

_Dimi looked at her apathetically. "Mrs. Mariah will be sure mad..."_

_"Who cares about Karapizza, the old hag ? Let's party- !"_

_Suddenly, rain started pouring down and the two girls were all wet._

_"Oww ! Nevermind !"_

_"Nicole ?"_

_"What is it Dimi ?"_

_"Promise me that... you'll never leave."_

_"...Of course, Dimi ! What got into you all of a sudden ? Friends for ever !" said Nicole with her small finger out._

_Dimi fake smiled and fingershaked with her as she jumped off the pavement._

I snapped out of my thoughts and fake smiled to myself. _Maybe..._

"Well, I say it's time for us to go !" Hao announced and Opacho cheered, "Yay !" He walked on, she following behind him in small leaps... and I was left behind.

I just looked at them going. _What should I do...?_

In a second of silence, _he _turned around, to shoot a look at me... the same expression earlier this day... when he said something about a wall of glass, breaking down... already beginning to break... I wrapped my hands around me tightlier. _He _only smirked, a "Heh." escaping his lips. And for some reason... I was...

I was _afraid._

_Strength... that I don't have... And these eyes... that see right through me..._

Fear... Wasn't it this exact same feeling ? This knot in my stomach, this hand squeezing my heart together... these additional trembles to the shivers I suffered from before...

_This is fear... this is an emotion... and he caused it ?_

"Dimi, come on !"

My legs stepped forward on their own. And still eyeing his figure with dilated orbs, a sweatdrop down my temple... I followed...

The stars were twinkling tonight.

The fullmoon was large and shiny.

The sounds of the night echoed everywhere around us.

The smell of newborn nightflowers flied in the atmosphere.

The shore was surrounded by tall trees that hid it from the rest of the forest.

The sky was black and drowning the night into a friendly darkness, illuminated by the moon's and the stars' shine .

The lake was black and the sparkles of the moon made it look magical...

_SPLASH !_

"Lord Hao ! Dimi ! Fishies !"

"...She said it wrong. Why don't you tell her ?"

"She's too happy to bother her with petty things, don't you think ?"

Little Opacho was running across the shallow ground of the lake, splashing water everywhere she ran to and disturbing the previous peace. Still, she looked so happy... _I wish I was 'happy' too... _The breeze that flew past was hair-raisingly cold and the grip of my hands around me tightened. Hao next to me chuckled and looked up at the sky.

I turned towards him, to see him with his relaxed arm on his raised knee, eyes concentrated on the stars. He looked so content, as if nothing else mattered... but the stars... _What's so important about them anyway...?_

"Hahahah ! Just look at them, Dimitra, you'll understand."

I fidgeted and widened my stare on him. _He...read me again... This power of his gets to me... _"It's called Reishi." he said calmly, closing his eyes with a smile, like someone who had to answer to the most stupid person in the world. I twitched at that and prefered to drop the subject, so I looked up at the nightsky he was so focused on.

But still... they were just that. _Stars._

_So beautiful though... So shiny... so extraordinary in this pitch black sky... so different.. _

I blinked in a sudden realization.

_"Your eyes are just like mine when I used to look in the mirror..."_

White shiny dots... so special in this black nightsky... Two girls, standing out from the rest of this grey, cruel world...

"Everyone draws his own conclusion from looking at the stars." I heard him say evenly.

"But... why...? They're just what they are..." I looked down a little, searching for a way to say it. "Stars."

Hao smiled with his eyes closed upwards. "Yes, but it's not our eyes that draw these conclusions, that trigger those feelings inside of us when we look up at them. It's something entirely different." He reached out a hand to where this useless thing rested... and his eyes were so sincere yet hiding a deeper meaning when I dared to look in them...

"The heart."

"Great..." I said self-pitily as he removed his hand. "I don't have a heart, so..." I saw him blink with the corner of my eyes but just turned to gaze at the sky spreading out before us. "Although... They're still beautiful..."

I smiled a small fake smile and added absent-mindedly, "This is the second time I see stars..."

"Second time ?"

"Yes... There's no such thing in the place that I come from."

"And what's that place that doesn't have flowers, games and now stars ?"

I jolted lightly in comprehension of what I had blurted. Whatever I said, he always got a grip on every word, to make me speak about myself.

"Don't you think it's time you told me about you ? I'm sure that'll be interesting."

I gasped at the thought of it... _"The glass is already breaking." _He wanted me to open my heart to them.. _him... _Let down my defenses and trust... Maybe... it wasn't so bad to open up to someone. I had done it before... why could it be with this person too ? _Because he's strong. And I... _I shook my head and took a glance at him.

He lay down on the grass with his hands behind his head, his eyes closed, and I only brought my knees to my chest, hugging them tightly. I looked down at the sparkling, dazzling surface of the water... flowing and just... being there, undisturbed...

"I... come from another world."

"I had figured this much." he intervened calmly, eyes still shut. "Hard to believe, but acceptable."

I nodded, clasping my hands tighter. I gazed at him intently and he half-opened his eyes serenely. _What else should I say...?_

"Anything that comes to your mind !" he said with a tiny smile. "I know, why don't you tell me about your world ?"

I stared at the lake blankly for a couple of seconds. "It's grey. And there's no such thing as this place. And it's always raining."

"And everyone has pupiless eyes."

I gasped at this, but found no reason to say more on the matter. However... the words just slipped out. "Everyone's eyes are empty... Everyone is but an empty vessel of a soul that has been... extracted of all emotions. Just like me..." I added and closed my eyes softly. "But there's one person that holds on to her heart and that's... her."

"That Nicole you mentioned when I first found you ?"

"Yes, her. She's... my best friend..." I said hesitantly, sensing a lie inside my words. _Can I really call her that...? She's my only friend... but is she really a best friend...?_

I thought that Hao, with his all-omniscient Reishi, would reply to my thoughts but he didn't. I supposed there were some things he just overlooked.

"What about you then ?"

"About me...?" I did, perplexed by the smile crossing his face.

Hao chuckled warmly. "Nicole isn't the only person with emotions there. I am looking at the second one right now."

"Me ?" I asked in a weak voice and my eyebrows furrowed. "No, no, you've got it all wrong. I'm not such thing as... I am emotionless... And I-"

"You're trying to deny it but," he said, sitting up, now his fearless eyes directly boring into my own _frightful _ones. "I can see that you're nothing but a little girl made to believe she can't feel. But if you can't feel-" Suddenly, he gripped my chin and made me look at him... at these eyes that burned with fire... "- _then what is this ?_"

That useless thing in my chest gave out one loud pound. Reflected in the blaze inside his orbs... I could see my own... widened with... _Fear...? _

His intent expression softened, like his grip loosened. "You're not out of emotions after all. See ?" And just like that, he smiled. As if nothing had happened.

I backed off a little but he didn't seem to care. "So, how did you get here ?" he asked, relaxed, now his eyes much more trustworthy. But... on their peaceful amber, I could see my empty eyes... like I'd never seen them before ; widened... with a flurry of _emotions _I couldn't discern...

"I...Erm...A star fell..." I stammered, shaking my head and prying my eyes from him to the distance separating us. "This strange and shiny star... I convinced Nicole to make a wish... to leave that horrible place... and suddenly this light filled the room.. and I ended up here. It happened the night before you found me." I added and glanced at him uneasily.

"A star ?" Hao's gaze was fixed on the ground too, a serious frown on his face. "You must mean Rahu... "

"Rahu ?"

"The star I told you about on our way here. The one that signals the beginning of the Shaman Tournament."

"Oh, right..." I responded slowly, recalling the first conversation I ever shared with him... or rather the complete attention I had paid while he was talking.

He took his lying position again, his eyes now full of thoughts as they focused on something I couldn't see.

"Now we ended up here..." I continued quietly and my eyes went sorrowful "At least I did. I don't know about Nicole or where she is right now-"

"But you shouldn't even think about that." his serious voice cut me short. I turned to see him, questionarily, and he smiled. "You thought you should go find her."

I gulped softly. _I did think about it for a second..._

"There's no need to be ashamed. It's only natural you'd want to find your friend !" he chuckled heartily but, for the knot inside me, his voice shifted to a serious, malevolent tone. "But not like this. You are too _weak._" Before I could react, he sat up next to me and bored into my eyes... and for some reason I could not explain, I couldn't break our contact... like I was chained... or trapped in hellfire... I didn't want him that close to me... He made me... He made me... _scared...!_

"What happened back there ? What was all that suffering about ?"

"I...I was..." I stammered, unsure whether I should continue, but he only smiled. "I was born like that..." I uttered finally.

"Weak ?"

"Y-Yes... Frail. Fragile. Nicole has given me many pretty names." I tried to look away from him, but it was plainly impossible for my eyes to keep away from this penetrating gaze that brought chills down my spine.

Hao smiled, eyes shut upwards. "They sure are prettier than _weak._" The way he tensed that word... it felt like a sword pushed through me... like he wanted me to... feel... _pain._ He only smirked at me and then added, "But I promise you, once I find a lead, I'll take you to her." Now his voice was... caring... trustworthy... but his gaze was once again a prison for my own.

"I told you everything about this place, didn't I ?" he whispered suddenly. I nodded in fear, unable to sever our eye contact. _About shamans, the Shaman Tournament, your twin brother and his friends... and your ambition. _ He smiled, one of these little smiles that made me shiver. And the fire that burned in his open palm right after only made it worse. "Do you remember why I can do this ?" he asked, staring at me slantly, awaiting a reply.

"Because you have the Spirit of...?" _No, it's because... of the Five Point Star._

"And what's furyoku ?"

"The... energy shamans have left...?"

"You learn fast !" he said with another hearty smile, tucking one of my unruly hairstrands behind my ear. I sensed warmth on my usually cold skin. He noticed it, because he chuckled, "I can do that, right ? No need to blush like that !"

I hung my head over my shoulder. "What's... 'blushing' ?..."

Hao was surprised for a moment but smiled kindly. "Your skin takes a charming pink glow..." he said gently, softly caressing my cheek, to my fear. "...when you're embarassed."

_Embarassed..? _I widened my eyes. _I'm ...blushing...?_

He only chuckled as a response. I let my gaze lower to the ground in sadness... _Why do you show me such kindness...? Is it because of... pity ? People have showed me everything but pity. Because nobody cared... I can see that... if you think anything about me right now... then it is how pitiful I am... I guess it can't be helped, right ?..._

"You should stop hiding, Dimitra."

_**I've been looking in the mirror for so long...**_

_**That I've come to believe my soul's on the other side**_

I was taken aback. I looked at him and blinked. _What...? _He had stood up and was staring at the nightsky and the shiny little stars that twinkled abovehead as if they were... happy... I looked at them too. Did they watch over us ? Did those silent radiant dots see the pain ? Did they see the sorrow ? They were beautiful, marvelous, wonderful... things I couldn't describe. I couldn't describe this astounding, newfound beauty or how much they influenced me right now. I lowered my head, thinking that... maybe what influenced me wasn't the stars, but... the looming figure next to me.

_**All the little pieces falling, shatter...**_

_**Shards of me, too sharp to put back together.**_

_**Too small to matter...**_

"You've chosen to live a life without a life... Don't you think it's time to undo that ?"

The shock gave its place to sadness... "But I have no one to help me with this... Besides... I don't want to..."

I looked away to little Opacho, still cheerfully splashing through the lakewater, then down to my lap. Why did he care so much for me ? Or rather... did he _really _care for me...?

"Hmf. You're a nothing."

_**...but big enough to cut me into so many little pieces...**_

_**If I try to touch her...!**_

_"You're nothing !"_

I curled there, hugged my knees and shut my eyes as tears started forming...

_"You shouldn't even be alive ! All this oxygen, going to waste !"_

_"I know ! Let's shut her in the broom closet ! No one will even notice her absence !"_

_"How about we just hurt her ? No one will help Little Miss Nothingness, anyway !"_

"You think you're weak and you're right ; you _are _weak. It's an unchangeable fact. But why make yourself even weaker ? Hiding and crying about your fate won't take you anywhere."

"What do _you_ know about fate ? What do _you_ know about what I had to go through ? You have never felt anything like that... Know why ? You're like _her."_ I tried my hardest to understand what that strange, choked tone was doing in my mostly emotionless voice. "You think you rule the world and you do. You go to the weak and pretend you understand them and try to be... compassionate, but in reality, you feel _nothing _for them. Their sorrow and suffering are small and insignificant... just like..." I squeezed my eyes shut even more, in a futile attempt to prevent my tears... but it was inevitable.

_Just like me in front of you..._

_**And I bleed, I bleed...**_

_**And I breathe, I breathe,**_

_**no more...**_

His laughter, that soft chuckle, stopped the silence.

"You're amazing...! I still can't believe there's someone who'd react to all this so lifelessly !"

I didn't want to look at him... Not with tears in my eyes, not when I could already feel his warmth, suffocating me. Nothing to surround me, to keep me from my fear... _him._

_But why...? Why am I so... afraid ? Of him, no less. What is it that makes me... feel ? His influence, his strength... that unbearable warmth, those words that cut better than blades and those piercing eyes that I can feel right now... reading my thoughts... tearing my heart apart... killing my soul... seeing this fear..._

I dared open my eyes a little, to notice him standing right beside me, the ends of his cloak rustling with a passing breeze...

_Still... if I'm so afraid of him, why don't I go away ? Sure, I can't do much on my own... but what do I fear most ? Death...? Or him..? Why am I staying here ? Why do I want to be around him and when I am, I wish I could be away from him...? Like I do now...?_

"So, I'm what you're afraid of ?"

_**Take a breath and I try to draw from my spirit's well...**_

_**Yet again you refuse to drink like a stubborn child.**_

_**Lie to me, convince me that I've been sick forever**_

_**And all of this will make sense when I get better...**_

I hesitantly looked up at him... A soft smirk was gracing his lips... but fire was ablaze in his eyes...

"So ?" he urged. "Have you found the answer to all those questions ?"

"No..." I said, about to look down but instead turned back at him. "I was thinking... you could give me answers."

Hao shut his eyes with a laughing 'hmf', like he had to reply to the stupidest question of the whole world. "The correct expression is 'I was _hoping'."_

"Hope...? I... do not feel hope. No such thing. Nothing at all..." I uttered quietly, lowering my gaze to his feet. "But... I think... this is it."

"Let us hear it then !"

"I felt nothing... up until I came here. I was living in total sorrow... I was never worried, I was never shocked, I was never... _afraid._"

I looked at the lake with the sparkling surface. Opacho was playing and chasing the weird glowing things that flew around the clearing. Nightflower petals blew due to the soft breeze that played with the small tree leaves. Fish would sometimes jump over the lake's surface, causing a small splash that disturbed the stillness of the water. The stars now were much more shiny than before and you could say they were flashing. The large moon's pallor was like mine. This atmosphere, it was the most enchanting thing I'd seen in my whole life...

He was still standing up and looming over me... I could sense that piercing pair of fiery eyes fixed on me intently and I hugged my knees to my chest, seeking protection. My empty eyes stared at the ground, at something distant which he could never see. Pain and sorrow... I was trembling and my heart beat so slowly and so silently that I couldn't feel it... maybe because I was entrusting him with a piece of my broken heart...

"I only had my painful memories for company... Voices full of hatred..."

_Voices that are chased away by yours...You replace all these memories with the few ones I have with you... How can you do this ?_I frowned and sat there silent, trying to put the words in order... It was so hard... I had found the answer... to why I couldn't walk away from him, from his warmth, that smile... and still these words I tried to utter were difficult to say...

"Hao..." The light breeze blew through my hair as I lowered my head slightly. "You're the only one that ever made me feel something..."

_**But I know the difference between myself and my reflection...**_

_**I just can't help but to wonder...**_

_**Which of us do you love ?**_

"And that's fear ?"

I was a little startled to listen to that... playful tone in his warm voice. It brought that rush of blood again... a blush. _I suppose it's not right to... tell someone you're afraid of them... _"What I'm trying to say is that...!" I tried to speak, too _ashamed _to look at him. "That from the first moment you... looked into my eyes, I... felt something. You were the first person to do this... I then realized I started feeling so many things...! And that altogether causes me fear..." I took a deep breath and clutched my hand on my chest, in search of my heart.

_You helped me feel something again... thank you..._

"Hahah ! You're welcome !" he laughed and sat beside me, one arm on his raised knee. "Though no one has ever thanked me before for making them afraid of me."

"Are you happy now ? You wanted to know about me and now you do."

"No, I'm definitely not happy."

I turned to see him, bringing a vertigo to my head again. "What ?"

"I would be happy if you started feeling you belonged here. That you're not a stranger. To see you smile or laugh." he said with a smile of his own. I stared at him intently.

I fake smiled once more. "I smile."

He laughed a bit and then added, "Truly, Dimitra ! I can recognise a true smile from a fake one like yours, you bad liar !"

"You're asking for too much." I muttered, tightening my hold around my knees and curling more. "I cannot laugh or smile. Get used to it."

"You know why I won't ?" I peeked at him sideways, a little curious to know what he'd say. "Because the fact I made you feel embarassment, shock, fear, the fact that you actually blushed-" He looked into my eyes with a smile so... sincere... that foolish thing in my heart gave one loud pound... "-these are good signs I can make you feel happy too."

_**So I bleed, I bleed, and I breathe, no-**_

_**Bleed, I bleed...**_

_**And I breathe, I breathe, I breathe, I breathe...**_

_"Hao..."_

_"Yes ?"_

_Back at that dark place again, that pitch black nothingness... where only I and he resided... standing opposite of each other... A smirk, a malicious smirk playing on the corners of his lips... the ghost of a smile on my own... Our eyes locked on each other... the blaze embracing me, capturing me in its warmth... and threat..._

_"You wanted this... and I think that... it's now yours."_

_Only that smirk broadened, as I held out my dainty hand... putting a single shard of glass in his own gloved one..._

_**...no...more...**_

We both turned to face each other, each bearing our own, unique smile. Hao chuckled and I tried to copy it but that resulted to failure, so his laughter got stronger, when he suddenly jerked his head up towards the nightsky. His parted lips lost their bliss... and his eyes turned awfully serious, flames raging in that amber again. Opacho had stopped playing and was gazing at the sky too, aghast. I wondered what it was that captured them both like that. I looked up as well and blinked, unable to speak as only little Opacho's voice echoed,

"Whoah...!"

_Okaaaay... _ Cliffhanger ! xD__ Insert 'Breathe no More' by Evanescence here. :3 And for those who don't know, 'bagana' is like shouting 'Nonsense!' or 'Impossible!'. A cult joke from the Shaman King Japanese anime... :3_

_I was never sure about Opacho's gender. I mean, the Kanzen-ban profile translation has her as a boy and the dub has her as a boy but the Japanese anime has her as a girl. To tell you the truth, she fits to me as a girl more than she does as a boy. Which is why she's a 'she' here. ^^_

_I want to make an explanation on something : the story is a mix. It combines elements from the Japanese anime, the English dub and Shaman King (Kanzen-ban). The names of the 'heroes' are from the English anime if you noticed, but many phrases I use as reference are from both anime versions. Then you have some manga-only characters and facts, like Joco being blind or Faust being on a wheelchair... and many many others. It's more or less a collection of many stuff from all versions, but I'd say that, in the end, the anime is just the base of the story. The rest of it is a tale on its own. Not to mention that 'Gift's manga version doesn't have English dub elements at all. It's as if it came from the Japanese anime and the manga ! I prefer it that way. Only that it's difficult to make jokes for Nic. -sweatdrop-_

_-EleganXD_


End file.
